In this sermon, Pastor Babij examines Jesus’ instruction to Peter, James, and John after they witnessed Jesus’ transfiguration. Pastor Babij explains that the disciples still did not understand the Messiah’s need to die or that the path of Jesus and of all those who follow Him is one of suffering leading to triumph, vindication, and glory.
Auto Transcript
Note: This rough transcript was automatically generated by YouTube’s AI algorithm. We provide it here for your convenience, but know it will surely contain errors as it has not been proofread or edited by a human.
okay this morning we’re going to be looking at Mark chapter 9 I’ve been a bit under the weather this week had a bad case of bronchitis so uh if I lose my voice somewhere down the line then we’ll just go to the Lord’s table and we’ll finish up let’s pray Lord this morning I do ask you for help as uh we look at your word we know contained in your word are so many important things that Lord sometime just in the in reading it we we pass over and we don’t realize it’s there I pray Lord this morning you be able to see some of those things and connect some of the dots and just lay the emphasis this morning on where the passage does so Lord we can walk away knowing the point given in the passage so we can be secure in our understanding of the work that Christ had to do for us to be saved there was no other way and so I pray that you would do that today in Christ’s name amen so we’re going to be looking this morning at Mark chapter 9 vers 9 through1 13 but I want to back up a little bit and just give you uh go back where I where I I came from because this this is a very important passage uh section of scripture because it talked about the trans figuration remember everybody was expecting a messiah uh who would not be a servant but who would be a king who would not who would not surely bear a cross or bear the cruelty the suffering and the humiliation and shame of death on the cross that’s what offering servant Jesus around uh lays some some principles and conditions down for all his disciples and those conditions were found in verse number 34 the path of True Discipleship if you want to really be a true disciple of Jesus Christ you have to deny yourself and you have to go back and see what the explanations of those are the next thing is to take up the cross and that of course is if our Lord bore a cross then all those who follow him and assume the relationship a relationship with Jesus Christ will also ruthlessly uh bring death to self that means we are fighting with sin to the point where we are putting down the rebel that is inside of us and we do that by the power of the holy spirit of God and so the more me we mature in Christ the more we realize that there must be a death to self-importance a death to self- dependence a death to self- advancement and a death just to the whole uh thing of promoting our self-centeredness in fact in Luke it does tell us that whoever uh does not carry his own cross and come after me cannot be my disciple and of course the third condition was to follow Christ want to follow me then do not expect an easy time as a disciple of Jesus Christ however Jesus true disciples those willing to accept the reality that following Jesus would cost something and it always does are blessed with something else they are blessed with more Revelation more understand understanding of what Jesus Christ is going to do and that’s the lord always blesses us with more knowledge when we already are putting into practice the knowledge we already have if we’re if we’re not putting into practice what we do know why would we need more uh pursue truth and do pursue putting it into practice then they can also expect more understanding from the word of God and more of a closer relationship with Jesus Christ so what Jesus wants to do is he takes his inner core of disciples and he wants to use their eyes and ears so that they would learn not to stumble over a particular point of teaching specifically a a specific point of the gospel and that was namely the necessity that the Messiah should suffer death they were really having a problem with this they were having a problem equating a messiah with someone who dies is not Messiah is someone who has victory over their enemies and so they they weren’t getting it and so because they weren’t getting it the Lord says okay I’m going to give you something in which you will be encouraged about what is coming but the timing was all off for their understanding and so what he does is he wants them to look at his inherent Glory all right and that’s found in ver in verse number one of chapter nine it says and Jesus was saying to them truly I say to you there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power so Jesus is going to is telling them listen you’re what’s going to happen next you’re not going to die from it it’s going to be something that if it it wasn’t for me giving it to you you would die because you’re going to actually be in the presence of the glory of God and nobody could stand in a human body in the presence of the glory of God unless God protected them so of course the event that took place in their lifetime was the Transfiguration and remember the Transfiguration serves as a visible type of the tin coming Kingdom and so that’s what we see in verse number two and three where of course Jesus becomes the brightness of the glory of God where it says uh pet in verse number two it says six days later Jesus Took with him Peter James and John and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves and he was transfigured before them this is a necessary thing for the disciples to experience just the core disciples for them to be encouraged about the kingdom that is going to come so once Jesus and his disciples uh reached the place on the mountain that he took them very private place he was transfigured uh the word there is metamorphosis he changed into another form uh and of course the passive voice in the Greek means it was done by the father on the son the son doing it to himself it was the father doing it on him and it was the glorification of his physical body uh and the body of of his humiliation the body that he took on as God and came into this world so God changed Jesus form by allowing his pre-incarnate glory to shine through his human features as a for Taste of his coming exaltation the disciples are given more evidence here of who Jesus is and of course what the suffering servant has come to do this event of the Transfiguration enables his disciples to see more clearly to to see jesus’ Power to see jesus’ glory and of course The Narrative allows the disciples to see Jesus in his true nature which actually foreshadows the two comings of Christ the first coming in his humiliation and death as a human and then the second coming in his glory and power and this was specifically to encourage his disciples so they would not be discouraged in their pursuit in their following Christ and not only his features were of course glorified but it says in the scripture in verse number three his garments became radiant and exceedingly white as no launderer on Earth could whiten them so that means that he was kind of had this super Heavenly whiteness about him what the disciples saw of course from we know from the Gospel of Luke they saw his glory and so this is where they became quite afraid because everyone who was serious about the Old Testament and knew it knew that they could not stand in the glory of God and live and so the Transfiguration uh was something that showed them the glory of God and all the gospel writers mention it John John’s gospel he says and the word became flesh and and dwelt Among Us and we saw his glory the glory as the only begotten and Truth this Glory of Jesus is inherent Glory it is not reflected Glory that was shown on Moses in the Old Testament God’s glory is his own that proceeds from within the very nature of his Majestic deity that the deity of Jesus Christ burst forth from which in him showing forth to his disciples his glory that Jesus in other words is the brightness of the glory of God that the glory is reflected from within and not from the outside so we saw that and then is appears and along with him Moses and we know those two uh individuals in scripture Elijah represented the prophets and all the prophets taught about the Messiah and then Moses represents the Law the lawgiver and remember the law was the very thing that uh not only gave Direction on how one was to live their life but the law was given so people would see their sin and and see that they couldn’t rescue them their themselves from their sin so these two signific figures talking with Jesus testified uh of Jesus being the Messiah in other words in these two individuals all Redemptive history was leading up to the Cross but see that was absent in the mind of the disciples the cross was absent and so Jesus is going to drive home that point to them till they get it because that must be a message message before the kingdom comes the cross must come of course we were all flies on the walls or on the mountaintops there when I went to Luke and Luke told us what they were talking about when they were talking with Jesus in verse number four Elijah appeared to them along with Moses and they were talking with Jesus what were they talking about well Luke tells us they were talking about his Exodus and of course from this life into death and that’s the word that is used there so in other words they were speaking Elijah Moses and Jesus was speaking about his very death on that mountain that Jesus would lead the people of God out of the bondage of sin in a new Exodus through this new Passover and of course Resurrection so the purpose of the Transfiguration and the conference with Moses the greater messenger of the law and Elijah the greatest of the prophets was to associate the work of Jesus with the meaning of the Old Testament scriptures now I said last time also that something else was taking place there that the old we see that the Old Testament same from time past are very interested in the topic of the work of Christ and the reason for that is remember before whether a person lived before the cross or after the cross if there was no cross they could not be saved they were actually those who lived before the cross were really saved uncredited Abraham was justified by faith but unless Jesus Jesus died his faith would mean nothing so see no one could be saved whether they live before the cross or after the cross if Christ did not accomplish his mission and suffer and die and rise from the dead to obtain for all believers of all times from Adam to the last person who lives and comes to believer Eternal Redemption see that has to take place where Hebrews pick it up and says in Hebrews 9:12 but through his own blood he entered the holy Place once for all having obtained Eternal Redemption so in other words Jesus had to do this he had to die but see this is what his disciples weren’t getting you you you would say from our perspective why weren’t they getting it it seems obvious to us right but it wasn’t obvious because they didn’t have all the the revelation we have right so it was not as obvious so don’t blame them right away from not getting it but the Lord was bringing them along so he gave him a visual example but now he gives a audible example and notice in verse number five and six all right this is basically what it says there it says in verse well verse number six it says they became terrified and then of course it tells us in the word of God in verse number seven and a voice came out of the cloud and said this is my beloved Son listen to him so see it was a audible thing they heard it was the very voice of the father where’s this voice right that means the first part of jesus’ uh very Ministry the father endorsed that first part well here’s the second part of his ministry and now a voice comes from Heaven and the father father endorses what greater endorsement can you have than the father of Heaven endorsing his son that he was with his son and that his disciples were able to hear the voice of God and how God endorsed his son on the second half of his ministry and the most significant part of his ministry and basically he says to them listen to him so the command is to keep listening to Jesus it is no longer Moses or Elijah who are God to be continually heard and obeyed so what Jesus said about his impending sufferings and cross bearing was necessary before the kingdom could come in power and glory in the future there could be no future Kingdom unless this thing happened so suddenly we see in Scripture that this inner core of disciples realized the Heavenly visitors had disappeared and then notice in verse number eight at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore except Jesus that’s a great conclusion to focus on Jesus and uh now saw his deity and His glory and now they are left with his Humanity in front of them right he’s just the man all right but now they see him as more than a man so the information that they’re bringing in about who Jesus is is overwhelming and and yet very needful because not only did they experience the glory of God but they experienced real Worship in the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and and the father and the Old Testament Saints so they were to constantly look to the son for Hope because Jesus is is not only the brightness of all the promises of the kingdom and becomes the king of the kingdom and then to hear the son is to listen to him and follow because Jesus can give what Moses could not give and what Elijah could not give so Jesus goes beyond everything so the Mount of transfiguration is a pivotal point in the ministry of this of the son of man and the majority of his disciples the majority of all disciples have to understand this particular point that Jesus was displayed as more than a mere man he was presented as God clothed in flesh and the Earthly garments of a human being and so that day as CS Lewis said they had a full taste of the very face and embrace of God when you experience something like that you can never forget it and so you would think though after that particular incident that these disciples were beow telling everybody what took place but notice this is where I pick it up this week in verse number nine this brings me to the text that we’ll look at at this Lord’s day and we see first of all the disciples provisional silence notice what it says in verse number nine it says and they were coming down from the mountain and he gave them orders not what man rose from the dead now that’s very interesting and the reason why is because God’s timing is not in line with the current expectation of the day that Jesus charges his disciples to say nothing about this incredible lifechanging experience and event historical event this was not just a dream this was not just a vision this was an act actual event that took place and tells them don’t say anything about it that that’s pretty hard to keep down but why well they just saw the Messiah who was shown to have glory and power and might as a king which would sink with the religious and political Messianic expectations of the first century Palestinian Judaism right it wasn’t time for that because something has to come before the Kingdom so Jesus says no you guys you have to keep silent about it so this inner core Peter James and John spoke about it amongst themselves however Jesus gave them a silence a provisional silence look what he says in the verse again he says you can’t say anything literally it it means until Jesus came out from the dead of course the scripture tells us they were trying to figure out what what did that mean I I don’t I don’t really know what that didn’t mean that didn’t understand Resurrection to a certain point they did see but the this statement assumes that the Messiah has to come out from the dead then that Messiah must have have to die before that Messiah can come out from the dead all right and that’s what they weren’t connecting now for your information two centuries before Jesus the doctrine of Resurrection was found in Jewish theology even though the doctrine of Resurrection is not developed in the Old Testament there are some very direct references to it for example the Daniel passage of scripture in Daniel 12:2 where it says many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake these to everlasting life and but others to disgrace and everlasting contempt so many Jews believed in the doctrine of Resurrection but some did not when Paul was doing some preaching and teaching in the book of Acts and he was brought before the council uh he said both two groups were in the council the Sadducees and the Pharisees now we know the Sadducees didn’t believe the resurrection and the Pharisees did believe the resurrection and of course he said this there occurred A dissension between the Pharisees and the s Sadducees and the assembly was divided for the Sadducees say there is no Resurrection nor Angel nor Spirit but the Pharisees acknowledge all of them so there was definitely a un there wasn’t an understanding of of Resurrection uh the Jews believed in a resurrection but they believed that Resurrection would only come in the future at the end of the world of course that understanding is given uh when Jesus talks to Martha and uh about the death of her brother Lazarus from the dead and this is her response was uh your brother will rise again Jesus says and she says Martha said to him I know he will rise again in the Resurrection on the last day so they equated the resurrection as the last day of judgment where all will be Resurrected at least in her thought so the disciples because of their unclear understanding of the Resurrection did keep it secret because they didn’t really understand it but mostly because of the remaining spiritual blindness and littleness of faith that the very Messiah spoken of in the Old Testament has to die they weren’t connecting those things see the problem that their expectation of Messiah remained flawed that both the Jews and the disciples expected only a conquering King and that conquering King had no place to suffer had no place to serve and had no place to die so in the disciples thinking the Messiah would come destroy the their enemies and establish the Messianic Kingdom now you know it’s not too far from the Old Testament where they get this idea from and we’re going to look at that in a minute but all the scuttlebutt about suffering death and Resurrection did not fit into their present understanding of Messiah now that could not be that has to be changed those people have to be convinced that God’s program is different than what you expect and so the Lord keeps hammering the point home and so what he does he the disciples come up with a question and the question shows they’re having a problem notice what it says in verse number 11 here’s the question they asked him saying why is it that the scribes say Elijah must come first that’s the question now something in Malachi’s prophecy prompted their question and the teachers of the law were teaching it that way and understandably confusion came from their interpretation of Malachi’s prophecy of course to see where they’re getting it from let’s turn our Bibles to the last book of the Old Testament Malachi and I want you to notice chapter 3 in verse number one and then also chapter 4 verse 5 and six chapter 3 and verse number one of Malachi and then chapter 4 verse 5 and six and in chapter 3 verse number one Malachi said Elijah would come before the Messiah would come look what it say I going to send my messenger and he will clear clear the way before me and the Lord whom you seek will suddenly come to his Temple and the messenger of the Covenant in whom you Delight behold he is coming says the Lord all right in in other words if you read that passage of scripture this is what you would get out of it someone’s going to come and clear the way and then the Lord’s immediately going to come into the temple and he’s going to come now of course not only as a priest ly King but he’s going to come quickly right well Elijah would come before the great and terrible day of the Lord we know that if you look in chapter 4 verse 5 and six it says this I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord and then verse number six and he will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers lest I come and smite the land with a curse now this portion of scripture says something a little bit different than it adds more information than chapter 3 and the information it adds is this that Elijah the prophet would come and that he would restore the hearts of the fathers to their children now that is very in Mark that in the disciples mind the reverse seems to be the case and what do I mean by that that Jesus appeared seems to appear first and then Elijah in other words they they’re saying Where did Elijah appear we didn’t see Elijah oh yes in the transfig Transfiguration the event of Elijah was only briefly he appeared but it was still after Jesus appeared and he spoke to Jesus but remember what they spoke about they spoke about jesus’ death so that means that Jesus again of sin in in a new Exodus through his death the Passover and then the resurrection so in other words the key is is that something has to be restored before and something has has to happen not only during the restoration but after the restoration before the kingdom of God could come so look at the answer J Jesus gives in Mark chapter 9:12 he answers them he kind of solves their problem but he adds more information that makes it maybe a little bit more difficult Jesus solved their problem informing his disciples that Elijah had indeed come now look at verse number 12 and he said to them Elijah does first come disciples were expecting then that the Messiah came and then the immediate restoration of righteousness and peace would come also but that’s not the case and what they didn’t see was this and Jesus clarifies they did not see that the restoration would come in two stages and this is often where we miss it in scripture we don’t realize that things coming stages that many times when the prophets speak they’re not only speaking about what’s going to happen today or tomorrow they’re speaking about something that’s going to happen way in the future and some that’s called the prophetic perspective on things and that is the case here that Malachi giving the right information because he was a prophet and remember a prophet was not somebody who studied to give a message a prophet was somebody who got a direct message from God and gave it to the people and you better not mess it up so obviously what Malachi said would come true and Jesus is interpreting what Malachi is saying and he’s saying listen it’s going to come in two stages the first stage there must be a spiritual restoration the second stage there must be a final restoration now look look at verse number 12 again and it says this and he said to them Elijah does come first and restore all things and notice what he says next and yet how is it written that the son of man that he will suff to say this what does that have to do with anything well it has to do with everything because remember Jesus uses the term son of man in a very specific way he never said says that he’s the Messiah he always says he’s the son of man right so see if you just have a messiah complex about the coming Kingdom and you miss the term son of man you you miss what is being said in the scripture about what Jesus has to do so he’s saying to them listen yes Elijah does come first but how come it’s written in the Old Testament that the son of man will suffer many things and be treated with contempt he asked them of course a question answer with a question scripture pointed to suffering being part of the first stage but they missed that if the restoration of all things will finally come in which way are they to come well Elijah would come in the purpose in the person of who John the baptizer right that’s scripture affirms that Elijah John the Baptist are very closely Linked In fact when the angel spoke to Zachariah the father of John the Baptist this is what the angel says and it will be he who will go as a forerunner before him in the spirit and power of Elijah and then fathers back to the children that’s what Malachi said and the disobedient to the attitude of the righteous and so as to make ready a people prepared for the Lord all right so in other words Jesus is connecting John the Baptist with Elijah in fact Jesus said at John of John the baptizer that he was there’s no one greater than John the Baptist and then it says this from the days of John the Baptist this is uh Matthew chap 11 until now the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence and violent men take it by force and then in verse 13 it says for all the prophets and the law prophesied until John all right John was the last Old Testament prophet and then it says this in in Matthew 11:14 and if you care to accept it Jesus says he himself is a li who was to come so Jesus is saying listen did Elijah come first yes he came in the person of John the Baptist all right so what he actually does in uh this passage of scripture is he begins to now lay the groundwork to what what John actually did all right remember going back to Mark chapter 1 one what was John supposed to do in verse number two John appears on the scene at a time where remember God hasn’t spoken through a prophet for 400 years when John the Baptist walked on this Earth so now John the Baptist in the spirit and person of Elijah comes and what is his message it says in chapter 1 of Mark verse 2 right at the beginning of the book as it is written in Isaiah the prophet it’s not only Malachi that spoke of it Isaiah spoke of it behold I send a messenger ahead of you who will prepare the way and that’s John the Baptist but what kind of environment is John sent in he’s sent to in the environment of spiritual deadness and shallowness a Corruption of the scriptures they can’t even get the truth about what the Bible said about the death of the son on the scene and what what’s there there’s religious formalism there’s comfortable hypocrisy people are going to the temple they’re offering their sacrifices but they have no heart for God hypocrisy so see in Malachi’s day the priests were failing in their duing what how does Malachai end this is how Malachi ends the people are living hypocritically all right it even says that in Malachi’s day the priests were failing in their Duty the offerings that they were offering were blemished and shot second best they were offering to God the Ser this uh the service of the temple they they weird about it was tiresome to them they had no desire to really want to worship God so their hearts were cold they were numb but they were unaware of their condition outward thing outwardly things seemed to be in order but inwardly things were not right the Lord through the prophet got to the heart of the matter and expose their hypocrisy well when John the Baptist gets on the scene what is his message his message is to the religious Hypocrites of the day when when Jesus preaches the gospel what is his message to the scribes and Pharisees woe to you scribes and Pharisees Hypocrites what was John’s me mission to prepare away to make ready the way of the Lord and make his path straight so this is really a Divine promise of the Messiah concerning the Forerunner work that the Forerunner would prepare and make fully ready a road before him putting making that road fit putting it in a fit condition for the Lord to travel over it roads in the East were generally poorly maintained a coming King if they were go a king was going to travel on a road he would send ahead of him representatives to assure that all the potholes or you know all the The Ravines that were washed out the roads were all repaired so the king would never have to stop but would constantly be moving forward and so that’s kind of what John did John really took all the things and leveled the road he removed the hindrances in the the hearts of people so that they would receive the coming anointed one the coming Messiah so the picture is for the winding roads to be made straight and for the rough obstacle ridden roads to be leveled and made safe for the coach of the Lord to come before his people and it would arrive where the message continued to go on so spiritually John moral spiritual alteration in the hearts and lives of people and so he did that by of course preaching a specific message and of course what was his what was his mission his mission was to turn the hearts that’s what Malachi said that’s what it says in Mark he’s to turn the heart of the people to restore a spirit ready to receive the son of man ready to receive the Messiah it was really a message of true conversion because what was what was John’s message all right it was a message it was a baptism of repentance for the Forgiveness of sins right he preached repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand Jesus preached repent for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand we so the physical right of baptism itself did not produce this spiritual result or the Forgiveness of sins but it was the submission to the repent baptism of repentance and as an outward testimony of the performance the personal uh repentance from sin of a individual that received then Divine forgiveness and of course such forgiveness of sins is based on what the vicarious sacrifice of Christ on the cross all right so what is Jesus getting to in the message and the question that he’s asking the disciples he is simply saying to them there if someone’s heart is going to be changed cleansed and forgiven there must be a sacrifice there must be someone who dies in their place and of course that’s what must happen so what happens is that if there is going to be a final restoration of all things which there will be there must take something must take place before that and so what Jesus does is really he he brings drives it home with three images of suffering and notice what he says in verse number 12 here’s the first thing he says this now this is the second time that Jesus tells his disciple in Mark that the son of man must suffer and says and he and yet how is it written of the son of man that he will suffer many things and be treated with contempt verse number 12 so the person must suffer and they must die and then there’s the picture of the servant of Yahweh which which he’s getting this from in Isaiah the prophet in chapter 53 where he says this that the servant of Yahweh must suffer and must die and this is what it says in Isaiah 53 by his knowledge the righteous one my servant will justify iniquities and then he says this because he poured out himself to death and was numbered with the transgressors yet he himself bore the sin of many and intercede for the transgressors so he is saying to them listen listen the son of man must die Isaiah’s servant of the Lord must die and the Forerunner Elijah who comes in the person of Jesus Christ he must suffer and die and does he well look at verse number 13 but I say to you that Elijah has indeed come and they did to him whatever they wished just as is as it is written of him well what did they do Jesus says Elijah has come and they treated him as they wanted to treat him they imprisoned him and they put him to death yes the religious and the political establishment treated him John the baptizer with suspicion and contempt and he was beheaded at the hands of Herod so if they did that to the Forerunner who was prophesied in Isaiah and in Malachi what do you think they’re going to do to the Messiah matter of fact it has been the pattern of Israel that every time God sent them a prophet what would they do they would either beat him or they’d kill him that’s what they would do so see in other words Jesus is driving home the point to his disciples well let me just say this first Elijah will initiate the first stage which introduces the suffering Messiah and then will lead to the second stage in which the con con ering Messiah will restore all things so in other words Triumph will come through suffering and by this way Elijah initiates the final restoration as it says in the gospel of Mark so the first stage is the death of the son of man in fact if you look over to chapter 9 verse number 31 I want you to notice if the disciples now we’re going a little ahead of ourselves but notice in verse 31 of chapter 9 and he was teaching his disciples and telling them the son of man is to be delivered into the hands of men and they will kill him and when he has been killed he will rise three days later all right so again here’s the third or fourth pronouncement but I want you to notice the response of the disciples verse 32 and they did not understand this statement and they were afraid to ask him so this is this they they did the Transfiguration Jesus preaches this whole thing connects John the Bap with El that comes through repentance and faith in the son of man who must suffer because someone has to pay for your sin and they still don’t get it it’s not registering to them but let’s go back for a minute and I want to notice that this final restoration stage it has been given out and leaked out in in Mark a few times already that there is a glory and a Majesty yet to come when Jesus comes the second time see the son of man will come in his final Victory that’s what they wanted to hear but they weren’t putting what came see Jesus is putting the horse in front of the card and he says like you guys want a final restoration you want an eternal Kingdom where there’s righteousness that dwells you want to live with God forever in glorified bodies then this has to happen first and what is it he has to die he has to suffer he has to go to the Grave he has to rise from the dead that has to happen first but I want you to notice in Mark chapter 8 look back to ver chapter 8 verse number 33 remember when Jesus said in Mark 8 838 excuse me Mark 8:38 it says for whoever is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation the son of of him look what it says when he comes in the glory of his father with his Holy Angels what’s that that’s the final restoration so he’s he’s pulling back the curtain and letting us see listen through past the cross you see the Eternal Kingdom and then notice in Mark chapter um did I read that look at look at Mark Chapter 13 Verse 26 and 27 it says this again just looking a little littlee that Jesus is leaking this out to them it says then they they will see the son of man coming in the clouds with great power and glory and then he will send forth the angels and will gather together his elect from the Four Winds from the farthest end of the Earth to the farthest end of heaven so in that he’s saying listen the final restoration will come Christ will come back to reconstitute the universe when the curse came it brought with it disease and thorns and Briars and War and murder and rebellion and all kinds of social disorders that we experience every day of Our Lives it brought earthquakes and hurricanes and the wearing down of the whole creation the whole you know we we do live on a disposable Earth you know uh it’s wearing down it’s it’s wearing out like an old garment right we’re we’re going to have a new Heaven and new earth someday but see it’s wearing down and as it says in Acts chapter 3 and that he may send Jesus now Jesus is already in heaven the Christ appointed for you whom Heaven Must receive first until the period of restoration of all things about which God spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from ancient times see when God the fathers send Christ again into the world the second time you know he is coming again he will send him back into the world to make it right again is to lead the whole universe from bondage of sin to Paradise that’s what he’s going to do that’s what they were looking forward to but he could not come without Christ dying on the cross we cannot have these things without Christ dying on a cross because there had have been an eternal sacrifice a one in a lifetime sacrifice a permanent sacrifice that can secure our Salvation forever and it was by the blood of Christ so if you leave at the cross there’s no washing away of sin there’s no atonement there’s no forgiveness if you leave out the resurrection there’s no victory over sin and there’s no return of Christ in Victory you have to have both but they have to come in the time that God designed them to come suffering leads to Glory suffering leads to G Glory that’s the point of this passage there was a film actually called Glory it was done in 1989 and it was it was based on the 54th Regiment Massachusetts volunteer Infantry in the Civil War this was the first formal unit of the US Army to be made up entirely of African-Americans after spending most of the war during doing only manual labor this unit volunteered for a suicide mission leading to the assault of on Fort Wagner many men were lost in that particular battle and the Fort was never taken the regiment’s courage though spurred a level of recruitment from the black community that was unprecedented in the Civil War and then President Lincoln in an address once said that these men were instrumental in the Union’s Victory and he said this their suffering led to Glory see Jesus the Messiah the Son of God the son of man would suffer and die on a cross and yet through his suffering came salvation for all who believe in him from Adam to the last person who trust Christ and that was secured by Christ on the cross so you cannot get away from the cross if you if you leave the cross out there’s no salvation Jesus Christ is the center of all all of the word of God he is the one that we should be believing in with our whole heart he should be the one that we are listening to and learning from he should be the one that we’re following he should be the one that we are ready to serve all the time with our whole heart that’s who he is and someday we are going to be with him forever so in some ways if you don’t enjoy it now then enjoy Christ now Christ uh is the answer to everything and I just pray uh this morning that through a passage like this and staying within the confines of what it says um that you can see that the Lord was kindly and generously teaching his disciples and bringing them along so they would get it because you know what after the resurrection they had to preach the message right they had to tell the truth they had they had to preach it the right way in in the context it should be preached and so the cross had to be Center the center of their message it had to be and so Jesus Takes this time with his inner core of disciples so they get it right so when they write the gospels the gospels become very accurate documents of truth and the word whole word of God does for our standing and for our spiritual maturity and growth and for our proclaiming and teaching what we ought to teach if it wasn’t for the Bible what would we teach in the church you know cooking lessons you know knitting class what I guess some Churches do that but what do you this is what we need we need the word right the word formulates our theology it makes us strong and mature in Christ so whatever comes in this world however changes that are is down the road that we may not even know is coming we’ll be ready for it because it’s not going to change our relationship with Christ or what is coming in the future that final restoration is coming and Brethren believe it or not you’re going to be part of it if you know Christ as your lord and savior amen let’s pray Lord thank you for sustaining me today and I I thank the Lord again for just the word of God it’s just so amazing how you set things up how you how things are recorded for our understanding Lord so Lord we get it right so we have more confidence in the one that we ought to have confidence in and that’s the Lord Jesus Christ and so Lord you become bigger we become smaller you increase we decrease I pray that would always be the theme in our life and I just ask you Lord that these this suffering that leads to Glory that Lord You may call us to a greater suffering that we have gone through in our life and I just pray Lord as if that time comes then I pray Lord that you would make us ready for that but Lord whatever your will is let us be quickly able and Desiring to accept it and to do it and I pray Lord every day our heart would not grow numb or cold like it was in the Old Testament where people were just hypocritical going through the motions not with any kind of feeling or real worship I pray Lord that that that would never be part of our Lives I pray that our worship would always be in truth and in the spirit always be real and that you would always continue to grow Us in the knowledge and wisdom of Christ and make us strong soldiers so we can serve you with all our heart mind soul and strength thank you Lord I pray this in your name amen