Reading:1 Samuel 17:1-58
Focus Text: Luke 24:25-27

INTRODUCTION

Have you ever wondered why so many people spend so much time taking apart the truths and teachings concerning Christ? They don’t do that with Islam, or Buddhism, or Hinduism or any other so-called religion. Not only would they heap the hatred of the world on their shoulders for being so “politically incorrect” and “negative”, but they might even find themselves accused of committing “hate crimes”!

Doesn’t all that strike you as rather strange? Why should it be that the world will applaud you if you put down Christianity but rebuke you if you do the same thing with Islam, Buddhism or Hinduism. They’ll even rebuke you if you criticize the rankest form of voodoo! And when you say that voodoo is plainly evil, they’ll tell you that it’s your racism and cultural snobbery which makes you think like that and in any case it’s all relative so who’s to say what’s good or evil, etc., etc.

Why do you think this should be?

It’s because of a spiritual battle which has been around from the beginning of time. Those people who rebuke you because you object to false religion are simply (mostly unknowingly) playing their role in that battle. The Bible is the written revealer of that battle, its origins, its outworkings, and — most importantly — its outcome. No wonder so many attack the Bible! It expses them and their games for who and what they are.

A survey I saw some years ago revealed that comparatively few professing Christians in this world actually believe 100% in the physical resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ. But discipleship to Christ stands or falls on the bodily resurrection of Christ. The physical nature of the resurrection is indispensable to the biblical narrative. The resurrection is the penultimate event in Christ’s life’s work and ministry which began in the glory of heaven, came down to earth, went into the tomb, and then BURST forth into the open manifestation of His glory – after which He would soon ascend to heaven to have glory once more. His resurrection guarantees His glory!

This present message is a continuation of the previous one, entitled, “Born to Die”. That may seem strange to say, but the Incarnation of the Christ cannot be understood correctly unless it is seen in the context of His death in Jerusalem, towards which He had “steadfastly set His face to go” (Luke 9:51). That had been the goal all along — right from the arrival in a stable in Bethlehem. His birth always points us to His death and has no meaning without it. For all the prophecies about Him are ultimately about His death, for which His birth was merely a necessary precursor.

Everyone is currently getting so het up about the little Baby in the manger and all the sentimental schmaltz which goes with that — all the ‘manger scenes’ being played in schools with proud mummies looking on. Why should that be? It’s because everyone loves a helpless little baby. They’re very cute and do not generally dispatch anyone to hell; whereas the Christ does (cf. Revelation 14:19; 19:15), but the carols do not mention that fact. In fact, if the world could keep Christ wrapped in restrictive swaddling-clothes in that manger it would be very happy indeed. So I prefer to show how His birth is not what should really be focused on to the exclusion of all else at any time of year but, rather, His death.

Thus, our focus text here in this message is in Luke 24:25-27:

“Then Jesus said to them, ‘O foolish ones, how slow are your hearts to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and then to enter His glory?’ And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, He explained to them what was written in all the Scriptures about Himself”.

Let me ask three questions on these verses…

I. WHY SHOULD WE BELIEVE THE PROPHETS?

First, we should believe the prophets

1) Because they are God’s Unique Messengers

They have been continually revealing future truth and present reality throughout Old Testament history. Line upon line; precept upon precept. Doesn’t your conscience tell you that something special has taken place when you read the words of the prophets? “For no such prophecy was ever brought forth by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were carried along by the Holy Spirit” (2 Peter 1:21).

Second, we should believe the prophets

2) Because we can See that their Prophecies are Truthful and Correct

Out of the more than 31,000 verses of the Bible, over 8,500 are predictive prophecy. That means 27% of the Bible. The Bible is predominantly a book of prophecy as well as a book of witness. There are 127 kinds of prophecies about the life of Jesus Christ involving 3,348 verses. All of them are fulfilled. What’s more, there are still 52 prophecies in the Bible involving 535 verses about Jesus’ Second Coming which are still to be fulfilled. We would be foolish to disbelieve them. In fact, we can see here that believing the prophets is actually an antidote to foolishness!

“O foolish ones, how slow are your hearts to believe all that the prophets have spoken!” Let us not do likewise. After all, we have the benefit of hindsight in our favour!

II. WHY WAS IT NESSARY FOR THE CHRIST TO SUFFER THESE THINGS?

“Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things …?” Sure it was! He suffered them, firstly,

1) Because it was the Will of God that He Should Do So

He had to suffer these things because this was the precise manner of salvation of men and women which had been predetermined beforehand by the Creator. Where Adam failed, Christ was sent to succeed (1 Corinthians 15:42-49). In other words, God did the job Himself to show our helplessness and dependence (which is the whole purpose behind the Fall, which God foresaw and knew would happen). As he forecast to Satan himself at the beginning of history: “I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her Seed; He shall crush your head, and you shall bruise His heel” (Genesis 3:15). God has called all the shots right the way down the line. Thus the Father had already prearranged for the Son to come and pave the way for people to be saved. He was the “Lamb slain from the foundation of the world” (Revelation 13:8) by arrangement: “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again” (John 10:17). Ought He not to have suffered? Of course He ought. No one else could do it, as is plainly shown in the fifth chapter of the Book of Revelation (please read it carefully; it shows that only Christ and no other could have done what He did).

Why was it necessary for the Christ to have suffered these things?

2) Because it was Plainly Prophesied

Prophesied over and over and over again. As Paul put it: “Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures” (1 Corinthians 15:3-4). Then we read:

“Concerning this salvation, the prophets who foretold the grace to come to you searched and investigated carefully, trying to determine the time and setting to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow”.

1 Peter 1:10-11

“He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted. But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way”.

Isaiah 53:3-6

“Was it not necessary for the Christ to have suffered these things?” Christ Himself showed them that it most certainly was. He showed them (and us) that it was absolutely necessary for that to happen:

“And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures. Then He said to them, “Thus it is written, and thus it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead the third day, and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. And you are witnesses of these things”.

Luke 24:45-48

How necessary it is to have Christ open your understanding, in order that we should understand the Scriptures. Above all, that we should understand why Christ ought to have suffered as He did. Once we grasp that, the way is paved for the rest of our spiritual understanding.

III. WHY WAS IT NECESSARY FOR THE CHRIST TO HAVE ENTERED INTO HIS GLORY?

“Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”

In the first place it was necessary for the Christ to enter into that glory because…

1) It is His Glory!

Our text specifically says so. The glory into which He entered is a glory which rightfully belongs to Him, and has done for all eternity. He is the eternally-glorious One. He entered into His own glory.

Secondly, it was necessary for the Christ to enter into that glory because…

2) It is the Glory which He had with God the Father Before they Created the World

Of course it was necessary for Him to enter into His glory. Glory is His milieu — His essentially rightful state:

“When Jesus had spoken these things, He lifted up His eyes to heaven and said, “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son may glorify You. For You granted Him authority over all people, so that He may give eternal life to all those You have given Him. Now this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom You have sent. I have glorified You on earth by accomplishing the work You gave Me to do. And now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with the glory I had with You before the world existed”.

John 17:1-5

We see that pre-creation glory spoken of when Christ is personified as wisdom in that extraordinary passage in Proverbs 8: “When He marked out the foundations of the earth. Then I was a skilled craftsman at His side, and His delight day by day, rejoicing always in His presence…” (Proverbs 8:29-30). That is part of the glory which the Son had with the Father before the world was made, when they planned it out, and while they were creating it.

Thirdly, it was necessary for the Christ to enter into that glory because…

3) It is the same Glory Witnessed by Isaiah when he had a Vision of the Risen Christ in the Temple

John made a reference back to Isaiah 6:1-5 when he said: “These things Isaiah said when he saw His glory and spoke of Him” (John 12:41). John here shows the Divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ. Christ’s glory is the same glory as that of the Father. Two Persons, but one in essence. The Isaiah reference says:

“In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord seated on a throne, high and exalted; and the train of His robe filled the temple. Above Him stood seraphim, each having six wings: With two wings they covered their faces, with two they covered their feet, and with two they were flying. And they were calling out to one another: ‘Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of Hosts; all the earth is full of His glory’. At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke. Then I said: ‘Woe is me, for I am ruined, because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling among a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the LORD of Hosts’”.

Isaiah 6:1-5

John says that Isaiah spoke of Christ when he was speaking about the Lord, thus ascribing divinity to Christ. We know that John was a great advocate of the divinity of Christ. He also said that about Isaiah because many of his prophecies predicted the coming Messiah, Jesus of Nazareth (e.g. Isaiah 4:2; 7:14; 9:6-7; 11:1-5,10; 32:1; 42:1-4; 49:1-7; 52:13-53:12; 61:1-3). Thus, when we pray to God the Father: “For Thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever and ever, amen”, it is also the glory of the Son. As He said, “I and My Father are one” (John 10:30).

Fourthly, it was necessary for the Christ to enter into that glory because…

4) It is the Veiled Reality which Lay Behind His Incarnation

From the moment that the Son of God was God manifested in the flesh, the full reality of who He really was/is was veiled, as it were. Although He never ceased to be the Son of God, He became united with a human nature (which He still has to this day, though now glorified) and, as the Scripture says, He, though

“existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross”.

Philippians 2:7-8

The complete fullness of His glory was then veiled for a time from the human eye. So, we can say, in identifying what this glory is that is rightfully His, it is the veiled reality which lay behind the Incarnation, which only the eye of faith can perceive.

But it wasn’t always hidden. On occasions, it flashed forth for all to see. His Transfiguration on the mountain before those three apostles was a manifestation of His rightful glory. In his second letter, Peter refers to this many years later:

“For we did not follow cleverly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came to Him from the Majestic Glory, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased’. And we ourselves heard this voice from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain. We also have the word of the prophets as confirmed beyond doubt ”.

2 Peter 1:16-19

‘Eyewitnesses of His majesty’. Yes, such was the Transfiguration of Christ on that mountain. “But Peter and those with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him” (Luke 9:32). This is so important in relation to the glory of Christ. For every stage of His earthly journey was a transfiguration in which His glory shone brightly behind whatever was taking place in the physical realm. So we read that His very first miracle was an open manifestation of His rightful glory: “This beginning of signs Jesus did in Cana of Galilee, and manifested His glory” (John.2:11). His glory was the veiled reality which lay behind His incarnation. This is what we should be aware of at this seasonal time of year — not just some powerless little babe in a manger. For He was born as the Saviour of the cosmos.

Let us follow this a little, in relation to His Transfiguration on the mountain, for it has vital information regarding His glory. What does this scene signify? First, the Transfiguration must be seen in its context. The context is Christ as the suffering servant. This is a theme often developed in the Gospels and there are a number of subtle references to Jesus suffering in this passage. For example, there was the conversation with Moses and Elijah which the disciples witnessed. What do you think Jesus could have been talking about in that conversation? Well, it was His extraordinary death: “Suddenly two men, Moses and Elijah, began talking with Jesus. They appeared in glory and spoke about His departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:30-31). Within the will of God, Jesus can be the exalted, resurrected Son of Man only as he is the suffering, rejected Son of Man. Such glory can only ever come after humiliation. Those who humble themselves will be exalted. This is a spiritual law. That is why, as a postscript to this scene, we get some comments about Elijah. There is so much wrapped up in this transfiguration scene of Christ in relation to the glory of the resurrection. To expand:

First, there was the presence of Moses and Elijah. They were both types of Christ. They had both fasted for forty days and nights just as the Lord Jesus Christ had done (Matthew 4:2). Moses took Joshua up Sinai (Exodus 24:12-18). Look at the similarities between the Transfiguration of Christ and that scene on Sinai. There was the journey up a mountain, the presence of a cloud and the voice of Jehovah out of the cloud to Moses. Elijah did not suffer death but was transfigured and taken directly to heaven. Even the body of Moses was never found (Deuteronomy 34:5-6) and many have surmised that his body was preserved for this transfiguration scene on the mountain with Christ (and not without a struggle over it with Satan, Jude 9). All of these involve strong resurrection (glory) imagery.

There is also the mention of John the Baptist (Matthew 17:10-13). This is a back-reference to Malachi 3:1; 4:5-6. John the Baptist is the ‘Elijah’ of the New Testament(and spoken of as such by Christ). They did what they did to John the Baptist just as they wished, just as it is written about him (Matthew 17:12). If they did it to him, the forerunner, it will be the same with Jesus Christ. So the first thing this scene tells us is about Jesus’ suffering servant nature. However, His suffering Servant nature is intimately related to His role as the glorified Son of God.

In the Gospel of Mark especially we often receive a glimpse of the dual nature of Jesus. Nowhere is this so pronounced and contrasted as in this Transfiguration scene. The Suffering Servant and the Glorified Son. We’ve discussed before how we sometimes have glimpses of the Son of God in the Old Testament, before His incarnation as Jesus Christ, known as Theophanies — Divine appearances. Well, here in this Transfiguration scene, we have a glimpse of the Son of Man in His glorified state. It is as if the veil of flesh which hides His true majesty and glory is suddenly drawn back, and we see the Truth of who Jesus Christ really is. Never forget that His glory is the veiled reality behind the Incarnation. If such glory is not proclaimed in ‘manger scenes’ then they are merely an indulgence in secular sentimentality.

These glimpses of His glory which happen every so often throughout the Gospels act as continual reminders of who Jesus really is. Just so we can’t forget. So we hear Him saying, “‘Truly, truly, I tell you,’ Jesus declared, ‘before Abraham was born, I AM!’” (John 8:58). Then in the Garden of Gethsemane, when they asked if He was Jesus of Nazareth, He replied, “I AM!” and they all fell down (John 18:4-6). They knew the meaning and import of that great “I AM” (Exodus 3:13-14), and it blew them away (literally!).

Or there was that occasion when they tried to grab Him and bundle Him over a cliff. Sorry, guys, the hour has not yet come, and He just passes through their midst (Luke 4:28-30). This ability to pass unscathed and even be invisible through the midst of a bloodthirsty horde was a manifestation of His glory (John 8:58-59). His glory is the veiled reality behind the Incarnation.

In the verses preceding the account of the Transfiguration in Matthew, there were two elements which prepared for the Transfiguration itself: First, there was the realisation by Peter that Jesus is “the Christ, the Son of the Living God” (Matthew 16:13-20) and in the second, there was Jesus’ reference to Himself as coming “in the glory of His Father with His angels” (Matthew 16:27).

So here we have more than a little glimpse of His glory — we get a positive eyeful! It obviously made a great impression on Peter, as we saw in the verses in 2 Pet.1:16-18. But what impression does it make on us? Does it convince us even more about the glory of Jesus Christ — that He was not a mere Man — He was not just a little baby born in a manger for people to look down on and adore without any context. Jesus took Peter, James and John as necessary witnesses (cf. Deuteronomy 19:15; Matthew 18:16) with Him up the mountain as a demonstration of what He had so far revealed to them – that He was the Christ, that He must suffer, that He must rise again, and that “whoever is ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him the Son of Man also will be ashamed when He comes in the glory of His Father with the holy angels” (Mark 8:38).

Let us not be ashamed of Him, or deny Him. Let us confess Him gladly; let us embrace Him to our hearts, and then we too will one day share in His glory. This Transfiguration scene is a faith-strengthening story for those who believe, and a mind-challenging story to those who do not. His glory is the veiled reality behind the Incarnation.

Fifthly, it was necessary for the Christ to enter into that glory because…

5) It is the Very Glory by which and into which He was Raised from the Dead

When He raised Lazarus from the dead, it was yet another open manifestation of His rightful glory:

 “Jesus said, ‘Take away the stone’. Martha, the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, ‘Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days’. Jesus said to her, ‘Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?’ Then they took away the stone from the place where the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, ‘Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. And I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I said this, that they may believe that You sent Me’. Now when He had said these things, He cried with a loud voice, ‘Lazarus, come forth!’ And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with graveclothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, ‘Loose him, and let him go’”.

John 11:39-44

That is the glory of the Incarnate Son of God reflecting the glory of His Father. “Did I not say to you that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” This is the same glory by which and into which He was raised from the dead. “Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father” (Romans 6:4). Was it not necessary for the Christ to enter into His glory? Raised by the glory of the Father into the glory which He knew with Him from eternity. His resurrection was the ultimate manifestation of divine glory.

Sixthly, it was necessary for the Christ to enter into that glory because…

6) It is the same Glory which will be Revealed when He Comes Again

As we read everywhere: “When the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the holy angels with Him, then He will sit on the throne of His glory” (Matthew 25:31). “For the Son of Man will come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will reward each according to his works” (Matthew 16:27). “When the Son of Man sits on the throne of His glory” (Matthew 19:28).

So, “was it not necessary for the Christ to have suffered these things and to enter into His glory?” Now you know the answer!

CONCLUSION

How much do I have to tell you to impress upon you the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ? He is glorified every time we acknowledge who He really is — from His Incarnation to His crucifixion to His Resurrection to His Ascension to His triumphant return.

“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”.

John 1:14

He is the Lord of Glory.

“But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory”.

2 Corinthians 2:7-8

The Lord of glory was crucified for our glory, which God ordained before the ages. To become a disciple of Christ means to enter into His glory with Him. It means to become a partaker in the glory which is His.

“Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called; whom He called, these He also justified; and whom He justified, these He also glorified”.

Romans 8:30

All those verbs are in the past tense, even the word “glorified’, for that is what we are, if we will perceive it aright. We have in the mind of God already been glorified; it has just not yet been fully revealed.

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us”.

Romans 8:18

That is our destiny as believers. So far the kingdom has only come in grace. One day it will be revealed in all the fullness of glory — His glory — and we will reflect that resurrecting glory which is His.

Let us not get stuck in the stultifying portrayal of the “baby Jesus” which the secular world puts on the entrance of the Christ into this world at this time in the calendar. Let us see Him in all the glory which is truly His.

“Now to Him who is able to keep you from stumbling,
And to present you faultless
Before the presence of His glory with exceeding joy,
To God our Savior,
Who alone is wise,
Be glory and majesty,
Dominion and power,
Both now and forever.
Amen”.

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© Copyright, Alan Morrison, 2023
[The copyright on my works is merely to protect them from any wanton plagiarism which could result in undesirable changes (as has actually happened!). Readers are free to reproduce my work, so long as it is in the same format and with the exact same content and its origin is acknowledged]