Lesson 25<\/p>\n
From Mountain Top to Reality<\/p>\n
Luke 9:28-45<\/p>\n
I cannot remember the number of retreats and conferences I have attended over the years.\u00a0 The one thing that I do remember is that the ideas shared or the experience itself pumped me up for a short time. It did no matter whether it was as a youth leader on a retreat or just a participant in a training session I came away with the desire to make changes in my life or in the organization that sent me.\u00a0 Sadly all too often just the opposite happens.\u00a0 It really makes no difference whether it is a youth or an adult that feeling soon goes away as we get involved once again in the day to day activities.<\/p>\n
I would like to believe that there is one experience that can be viewed as a defining moment.\u00a0 Hopefully the cumulative effect of all those mountain top experiences has made me a better person.\u00a0 The chances of that happening may not have occurred, if I had not been given the opportunity to be there in the first place.\u00a0 I have seen in my lifetime that such occasions do alter lives of people.\u00a0 Although a change may take place in one\u2019s life it takes time before the evidence becomes obvious. Many of the young people with whom I was involved many years ago still talk about what brought them together for that special time where they met God. Sadly, there have also been those who heard the same message I and others heard and have drifted away from the church.\u00a0 Somehow all the effort was not able to break through the barriers they put up to the gospel.<\/p>\n
Since the church is made up of individuals the results in the lives of each of them is only multiplied by the number of people in a church setting.\u00a0 For almost two hundred years the word revival has been used to speak of a coming together to hear the gospel preached and to repent of our sins.\u00a0 If we look at the landscape today we have to wonder what happened to all those who came out of those meetings ready to change society for the better.\u00a0 Usually within weeks it is business as usual.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The devil, I am afraid has done a good job at diverting our attention away from what is important to the things of the world. He has brought about wars and economic calamities to take our focus off what God wants to do in our lives. In last week\u2019s lesson Jesus asked, \u201cFor what is a man profited if he gains the whole world and, loses or forfeits himself?\u201d (Luke 9:25)<\/p>\n
Continuing from last week we will see that the disciples still had much to learn about the real mission of God.\u00a0 It was important that they learn those lessons well because it would not be many day in the future when they were going to have to deal with real life situations without the physical presence, protection and leadership of Jesus.<\/p>\n
Luke 9:28-29<\/p>\n
There was a period of eight days following the discourse about His identity of which nothing is written in any of the gospels.\u00a0 He may have used this time to further explain to His disciples what was going to take place in the days to come.\u00a0 At the end of that time He decided to seek a time of solitude when He could pray.\u00a0 He took with Him His inner circle of disciples, Peter, James and John with Him.\u00a0 It was important for them to see Him in a time of prayer.\u00a0 They would need to follow His example of seeking God\u2019s will in the days ahead. Jesus never did anything without seeking His Father\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n
Luke 9:29<\/p>\n
There is not another example in all of the other times that Jesus prayed that such a total transformation took place in His appearance.\u00a0 Up until this point His attention was on the people.\u00a0 Now it turned to what was going to occur with weeks of His experience on Mount Hermon.\u00a0 Matthew and Mark wrote that He was transfigured.\u00a0 G. Campbell Morgan in his book, \u201cThe Gospel According to Luke\u201d described using the term metamorphosed.\u00a0 Jesus\u2019 appearance was completely altered in the same way that a caterpillar becomes a butterfly.\u00a0 Luke wrote that His appearance became different and His clothes began to glisten. Theologians differ about what was taking place.\u00a0 Some think that Jesus appeared as He did in His pre-incarnation body. Others view it as a picture of His manifestation of His sinless life.\u00a0 Whichever it was, it definitely was a sign of what was about to take place.<\/p>\n
Luke 9:30-31<\/p>\n
Besides the change in appearance something else happened. Two men appeared. As Luke wrote they were there to speak to Jesus about His impending departure. Most theologians believe they were there to encourage Him and to indicate to Him that He was carrying out God\u2019s purpose for His life.\u00a0 There could have been no better representation than Moses and Elijah to bring the news to Jesus.\u00a0 Moses had brought God\u2019s law to the Israelites.\u00a0 He spoke for all those who had died under the law and would be raised again at Christ second coming.\u00a0 Elijah was believed to be the greatest prophet by the Jews. He was considered the reformer of Israel. (See 1 Kings 18:21-40)<\/p>\n
Luke 9:32<\/p>\n
While all the conversation was taking place the disciples were in an all too familiar position.\u00a0 They had been overcome with sleep. Suddenly they awoke and were able to get a glimpse of the Jesus in His glory and the two men who were with him.<\/p>\n
Luke 9:33<\/p>\n
Having finished with their business Moses and Elijah were getting ready to depart.\u00a0 As usual Peter seized the moment to say something.\u00a0 Both Luke and Mark indicated that he spoke because of fear and not really knowing what to say.\u00a0 (See Mark 9:6) If a person does not have something to say he should remain silent.\u00a0 Peter suggested that the disciples were there so that they could build three places of worship one for Jesus and one each for Moses and Elijah.\u00a0 What he seemed to be saying was that as long as they stayed on Mt. Hermon Jesus would not face the death about which He had spoken.\u00a0 They could just remain there and worship God continually. \u00a0It might also have been an indication of wanting to keep this experience all for himself and the two others.<\/p>\n
Luke 9:34-35<\/p>\n
God cut off Peter\u2019s thoughts immediately.\u00a0 Jesus said nothing. A cloud then formed and covered them.\u00a0 They then became terrified. \u00a0As He had done so many times before, God spoke from the cloud.\u00a0 He emphatically let them know that Jesus was His Son and His chosen One.\u00a0 Instead of making their own plans they were to listen to what Jesus had to say.\u00a0 Jesus had said He was going to suffer.\u00a0 The holy men had confirmed it, which the disciples would have heard if they had been awake.<\/p>\n
Luke 9:36<\/p>\n
God finished what He had to say.\u00a0 When they looked up the only person who was still there was Jesus.\u00a0 In Mark Jesus warned them not to tell anyone what had just occurred on the mountain. Luke said they kept silent and did not tell anyone.\u00a0 This was part of the plan of Jesus to have the events play out according the timing of God. If the people knew what had occurred they would have once again tried to change history.<\/p>\n
Luke 9: 37-39<\/p>\n
Among those who came to Jesus as He and the others came down from the mountain was a man in desperate need.\u00a0 After the experience on the mountain, Jesus came back down to face the real life situations of the people for whom He came to die. His work was still not complete. He approached Jesus begging Him to help his son.\u00a0 He described in detail what was wrong.\u00a0 The evil spirit that possessed him would:<\/p>\n
In his mind the worse injustice was the fact that he had brought his son to the disciples who had been left behind to heal him.\u00a0 They were unable to do for the man as he had requested.<\/p>\n
Luke 9:41<\/p>\n
Then turning to the people but most certainly for His disciples, He had some pretty strong words for all of them.\u00a0 He really wanted to know how long would it take for them to come to the point that they truly believe.\u00a0 In His description they were called a perverse people.\u00a0 Like their forefathers they were a clueless, hardheaded and obstinate people.\u00a0 He had to wonder what it would take for them to get over that condition.<\/p>\n
Luke 9:42<\/p>\n
Having said those words, He turned his attention once again to the man.\u00a0 He commanded that the boy be brought to Him.\u00a0 In Mark Jesus wanted to know if the man believed He could do what he had asked.\u00a0 There is a powerful statement found there.\u00a0 After having been disappointed by the disciples He still believed that Jesus could heal his son, but if there was any doubt lingering within him, he wanted Jesus to remove it. (See Mark 9:24)<\/p>\n
Luke 9:42-43<\/p>\n
The demon did not give up easily.\u00a0 Even as the boy was being brought to Jesus he once again attacked him.\u00a0 Jesus rebuked the demon who had no choice but to leave the boy alive and well.\u00a0 He was returned to his father whole. The reaction of the people confirmed the words of Jesus when He called them an unbelieving and perverse generation.\u00a0 They had just witnessed a miraculous healing and all they could do was stand in amazement.<\/p>\n
Luke 9:44-45<\/p>\n
So that the disciples would not get carried away by what they had just witnessed, He spoke again of the coming events. He said listen carefully, pay attention to what I am about to say. They needed to understand that nothing had changed.\u00a0 He was still going to be turned over to the men who were opposed to Him.<\/p>\n
As before when He told them they did not understand.\u00a0 Luke wrote that the meaning of His words was hidden from them. They just could not comprehend the magnitude of what was being said.\u00a0 Because of the gravity of the events to come they were afraid to ask Him about them.\u00a0 For the events to occur would destroy their plans of an earthly kingdom.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The church has been asleep for a while and has missed the opportunity to impact the impact the world for Christ. \u00a0The world has passed us by and no longer sees us as a factor in society. \u00a0It is not too late but time is running out. God calls us to listen to His beloved Son. \u00a0His message for us is to believe and make disciples. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n
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Lesson 25 From Mountain Top to Reality Luke 9:28-45 I cannot remember the number of retreats and conferences I have attended over the years.\u00a0 The one thing that I do remember is that the ideas shared or the experience itself pumped me up for a short time. It did no matter whether it was as […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-279","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-luke"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=279"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":280,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/279\/revisions\/280"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=279"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=279"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/biblicalmastery.com\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=279"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}