Following Jesus with Encouragement

Maybe you were excited about this sermon series on Following Jesus. But now you’re having 2nd thoughts. You say, “Wait, the whole 2nd half of Mark’s gospel is about denying yourself and taking up a cross.”?

Well now Jesus now gives His followers an encouraging preview of glory.

So today we’re going to see 6 ways the Transfiguration encourages us.

We’ll look at 3 this morning, and 3 more tonight.1st…

I.         The Transfiguration encourages us by showing us Christ’s glory (2-3)

Look at v. 2…

2 And after 6 days Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James, and John [His inner circle], and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and He was transfigured before them.

Have you ever thought about the fact that none of the gospels give us a physical description of Jesus?

What did He look like? We’ve all seen movies. But the Gospels say nothing. What color were His eyes? His hair? What did His voice sound like? How tall was He?

We don’t know. We do know He probably looked like an average man.

Isaiah said “He hath no form nor comeliness.”

He didn’t have a particularly handsome face or incredible build.

There was nothing to make Him stick out of a crowd.

Sure, He’d performed some amazing miracles. But so had Moses and Elijah before Him. In fact, they’d performed some even flashier miracles—like parting the Red Sea and bringing fire down from heaven.

The disciples may have been still wondering “Is Jesus really the Son of God?”

So to prove there’s no question, God transfigures Jesus.

God pulls back part of the curtain of the humanity that veiled His deity.