Jesus is Enough
Truth Taught- The disciples struggle to understand that suffering precedes glory
Last time we saw the amazing event called the Transfiguration of Christ. Here the disciples saw Jesus in His glory, they saw Moses and Elijah and they heard the voice of God the Father from the cloud that encompassed Him.
Peter thinking, he had to say something has an idea and speaks of building tabernacles for each, Jesus, Moses and Elijah.
Peter and the others just don’t understand. Jesus is not on the same level as Moses and Elijah. As great as those men were and as mighty as God used them for His purposes, they pale in comparison to Jesus Christ, the Son of God. The disciples missed the fact that Jesus is in a category all by Himself.
They also misunderstood that Messiahship means suffering, death and then glory. Jesus would not take the Kingdom when Satan offered it to Him. He would not take the Kingdom when Peter rebuked Him for even thinking about dying. He would not take the Kingdom without doing it God’s way. In obedience to the Father, our Lord will inherit all that and more. He will do it God’s way.
This was definitely what one would label a mountain top experience. Jesus led them up the mountain and was with them on top of the mountain.
In our text for today, Mark uses the dialogue Jesus has with the disciples as they descend the mountain to reinforce that the Messiah will suffer and be raised from the dead. Jesus will always refuse the elevation without suffering. Our Lord steers us back with Peter, James and John to the reality that He will shortly endure. In our text today, we will see Elijah, the Son of Man, and Isaiah’s Suffering Servant and they all will attest to the fact that suffering will always precede glory.
What we must also see, and this is application before the message, that the same is true for us as believers, suffering must precede glory. In this life there will be trials and we must go through them so that we can be like Jesus in that as well. A disciple is called to be like Jesus and we all must be pursuing that goal in all things including even, suffering.
Romans 8:16–17 (ESV)
16 The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, 17 and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him.
Peter and the others were still very far from considering a suffering Savior. A Messiah of victory who would triumph over all earthly enemies was more to their liking. A suffering, dying Messiah was not what they wanted and in their thinking that could never happen and Jesus finds resistance from them at every step He takes toward the cross.
Here, we see they are still confused as to what the resurrection even means. It’s so far from their minds that they really cannot fathom a dead and raised Messiah.
Mark 9:9–13 (ESV)
9 And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean. 11 And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 12 And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? 13 But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”
1. Until the Son of Man has Risen (9:9-10)
9 And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.
Jesus and the three disciples Peter, James and John were walking together down the mountain. Can you imagine the sweet fellowship they had? Can you picture the scene? What a great honor to walk with Jesus.
For us Jesus is enough. To walk with Him up the mountain and then to be with Him on that mountain top experience they had where Jesus was changed to manifest His glory…now that is why we came, Peter thought. This is more like it, Jesus. Now, we’re talking.
All this was very magnificent and life changing. When it was all over and the glory of God shrouded and hidden once again, Jesus was still there. Beloved, our Lord is with us when we are walking down the mountain too. In those everyday life experiences like a very cold January with below average temps and above average snow, Jesus is with us just as much as He is when we are on top the mountain. That is a great miracle too.
Do we realize what a great privilege we have to walk with Christ? This is what God desires from us. To walk with Jesus everyday is eternal life. To be in a relationship with Him is heaven.
Micah 6:8 (ESV)
8 He has told you, O man, what is good;
and what does the Lord require of you
but to do justice, and to love kindness,
and to walk humbly with your God?
I wonder if we can see clearly what God told Micah to relay to the people? God has told us what is good in His Word. What is good has been determined by God not by us and our logic, no, God has determined good and has told us. We don’t have to really figure it out, just read and discover what is good. What does the Lord require from His people?
Do Justice– Here we see that our Lord desires us to love what is right and do what is right. He doesn’t leave it to us to determine what is right, He tells us in His Word.
He has told you, O man, what is good;
Our Lord also desires that we love kindness. We show kindness to others as we live our lives. We seek to put on kindness. God is more concerned with who we are than what we do.
Finally, walk humbly with your God.
This is what the disciples were learning, to walk humbly with Christ is a great privilege that is a life style gift of God’s mercy.
God desires our affections more than our service. Because, if He has our affections, He will also have our service in the right way.
John Calvin writes, That is how God wants us to serve Him, primarily we are to be kind, humble and merciful in doing so, we resemble God and witness that we are His children, in whom He has engrave His image. —Calvin
As they were descending the mountain Jesus was teaching them further. One thing He taught was what He had started telling them earlier, His resurrection.
he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.
By saying this our Lord was explaining to His disciples the true meaning of the transfiguration was the anticipation of the resurrection and all that would follow to encourage the disciples to remain strong, believe and follow Jesus to the cross. A dead Messiah makes sense if we also understand that in dying and being raised from the dead, God is glorified and we are saved.
There is the command of silence Jesus gives them. They are not to say anything about the Transfiguration until after the resurrection. So, our Lord knows what is going to happen to Him. He knows that He will be crucified, die and then be raised from the dead. He knows that suffering precedes glory. He also knows that glory will follow. So, Jesus tells them that after His resurrection they are to share the account with everyone.
Do you see in this statement the confidence Jesus has in His Father? To tell them not to say anything until after He is raised.
Peter is deeply impressed with Jesus’ stature as the Messiah and the Transfiguration of the Son of God, but he and the other disciples find the necessity of the Passion completely incomprehensible.
10 So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.
Here we see that on a certain level, the disciples were still blind to the reality of the ministry and calling of Jesus. They still were against what He keeps telling them will happen.
So, they did keep Jesus’ command to not tell anyone else but they did so mainly because they chose not to say anything since they did not like anything about the idea and therefore did not understand. It was a rejection of truth because it didn’t sit well with their ideas of the Messiah.
One theologian who wrote a commentary on Mark’s Gospel in the Pillar Commentary Series writes, the puzzlement of the disciples at the resurrection must therefore be regarded as a further sign of their blindness—James Edwards
What we must see here is that what Jesus is about to do is the plan and will of God. It has always been the plan and will of God. In order for Jesus to be highly exalted, He must be despised and rejected first. For Jesus to be the risen Lord, He must be the dying Savior first.
The disciples could not see that a precondition for their understanding of the resurrection of the Messiah hinges on their understanding of His passion and the passion cannot be understood without an understanding of Jesus’ resurrection. Both go hand in hand. You see a suffering and dying Savior is only acceptable if He is also the risen and living Savior.
We can understand the purpose of Jesus’ death if we understand why He rose from the grave. His death makes sense when we see what it accomplished and then too why He was raised.
A. Christ’s Resurrection Insures Our Regeneration:
1 Peter 1:3 (ESV)
3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,
Here, Peter explicitly connects Jesus’ resurrection with our regeneration or new birth. When Jesus rose from the dead he had a new quality of life, a “resurrection life” in a glorified human body and human spirit that were perfectly suited for fellowship and obedience to God forever. In his resurrection, Jesus earned for us a new life just like his. We do not receive all of that new “resurrection life” when we become Christians, for our bodies remain as they were before, still subject to weakness, aging, and death. But in our spirits, we are made alive with new resurrection power. Thus, it is through his resurrection that Christ earned for us the new kind of life we receive when we are “born again.” This is why Paul can say that God “made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him” (Eph. 2:5–6)
By the resurrection of Jesus, He purchased for us new life in our spirits. After Jesus died, the moment He opened His eyes and took a breath He purchased for us resurrection life in our spirits. Our spirits have been brought from death to life at the moment we were born again. When we were brought to life by faith, this life is the life Jesus purchased for us when He was raised from the dead.
B. Christ’s resurrection proves our Justification is real
Romans 4:25 (ESV)
25 who was delivered up for our trespasses and raised for our justification.
When Christ was raised from the dead, it was God’s declaration of approval of Christ’s work of redemption. Because Christ “humbled himself and became obedient unto death, even death on a cross” (Phil. 2:8), “God has highly exalted him …” (Phil. 2:9). By raising Christ from the dead, God the Father was in effect saying that he approved of Christ’s work of suffering and dying for our sins, that his work was completed, and that Christ no longer had any need to remain dead. There was no penalty left to pay for sin, no more wrath of God to bear, no more guilt or liability to punishment—all had been completely paid for, and no guilt remained. In the resurrection, God was saying to Christ, “I approve of what you have done, and you find favor in my sight.”
C. Christ’s Resurrection Certifies That We Will Receive Perfect Resurrection Bodies as Well:
The New Testament several times connects Jesus’ resurrection with our final bodily resurrection.
“And God raised the Lord and will also raise us up by his power” (1 Cor. 6:14).
“he who raised the Lord Jesus will raise us also with Jesus and bring us with you into his presence” (2 Cor. 4:14).
To understand the resurrection clears up His passion. We see why He had to suffer. His suffering and death make sense now because we see what the crucifixion and resurrection accomplished for all who believe.
2. They Say First Elijah Must Come (9:11-13)
11 And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” 12 And he said to them, “Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt? 13 But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”
This sounds like an honest question coming from the disciples. However, this has an agenda behind it. They are still trying to fight against what Jesus has told them is going to take place. He has said, the Son of Man will go to Jerusalem be beaten and murdered but He will also rise again. So, their question is a way of telling Jesus that this can’t happen to Him because the OT clearly states that Elijah must first come to announce the Messiah, King’s presence.
They are right…
Malachi 4:5–6 (ESV)
5 “Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes. 6 And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers, lest I come and strike the land with a decree of utter destruction.”
The point the disciples are trying to make is since Elijah is not here as promised in the Book of Malachi then the Messiah cannot suffer yet. The Christ can only fulfill this after Elijah the prophet appears and restores Israel in repentance to the Father. The primary task of Elijah is to prepare the people of God for the reception of salvation through repentance.
In ancient Near Eastern life, monarchs (kings and rulers) didn’t arrive in town unannounced, they not only arrived with an entourage, they were preceded by a herald. They were preceded by a forerunner, we often say. He was sent ahead to prepare everything for the arrival of the monarch, to straighten out things…
Isaiah 40:3–4 (ESV)
3 A voice cries:
“In the wilderness prepare the way of the Lord;
make straight in the desert a highway for our God.
4 Every valley shall be lifted up,
and every mountain and hill be made low;
the uneven ground shall become level,
and the rough places a plain.
Jesus is affirming the truthfulness of God’s Word. They are right about Elijah. Jesus goes on to tell them that Elijah has come. It is in the ministry of John the Baptist that the initial part about Elijah comes to pass.
Matthew 11:13–14 (ESV)
13 For all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is Elijah who is to come.
John the Baptist came. He cried out in the wilderness to get the people ready to meet King Jesus. He called Israel to repent. He preached truth and John was murdered by King Herod.
Jesus basically tells them that Elijah has already come so the Messiah is ready to suffer as it is written of Him in Isaiah…
The problem with the disciples is they had selective Bible memory. They are quick to bring up Micah but they left out Isaiah 53…the suffering servant.
And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt?
“You’re all caught up in a prophecy regarding Elijah, and I want you to focus on prophecies concerning my suffering.” Again, trying to get them to comprehend this most objectionable reality. “How is it written” – and that’s a direct reference to the Old Testament, often used by New Testament writers and by our Lord Himself – “that the Son of man” – the messianic title from Daniel 7:13 – “will suffer many things and be treated with contempt?”
Isaiah 53:4–5 (ESV)
4 Surely he has borne our griefs
and carried our sorrows;
yet we esteemed him stricken,
smitten by God, and afflicted.
5 But he was pierced for our transgressions;
he was crushed for our iniquities;
upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace,
and with his wounds we are healed.
What Jesus was about to do was directly connected to the predictions about His suffering and death. We see clearly what the disciples did not see until after the resurrection of Jesus. We see that His suffering and death had a purpose. His death for us sinners was the only remedy for our fallen condition. His death had purpose. What Jesus was about to do would be far more important that overthrowing the Roman Empire. He is God’s gift to us. He suffered, died and was raised and through those vital acts, He has saved us from our sin.
Trust in Jesus, Walk with Him not only on the mountain top but also descending the other side.
Resources Used:
Sermons on the Book of Micah by John Calvin
Mark by William Lane
Mark by James Edwards
Words of grace
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