Luke 9:28-36

Well, good morning, Saylorville Church!  I bring greetings from South Des Moines. My name is Josh Daggett. I’m the lead pastor at Living Waters Fellowship, and I am so grateful to be your preacher for the morning! I’ve had an awesome morning already, and I’m excited to preach God’s word to you! Saylorville helped start Living Waters in 2008. A lot of things have happened since then, but one thing remains the same. That’s our gratitude to Saylorville Church for your love for the Gospel and your love for us. You helped us start the church and, by God’s grace, we have been so blessed by you over the years. All the staff and pastors (Pat, Abe, Jason, Lisa, Curtis…) and all the congregation… you guys have been amazing, even this morning, as you have been with your love and your encouragement towards me and Living Waters! We thank God for you guys. We love you!

I want to give you a little update on what’s going on in South Des Moines to help you understand a little bit of our story. I think the best way to do that is with a series of numbers; 2.2, 13, 515 and 2. I’ll explain each one as we go.

2.2 stands for millions of dollars raised towards the purchase and renovation of our church home in South Des Moines… Hallelujah! (audience applauding) By the grace of God, we bought a Fareway grocery store, debt-free (because… in South Des Moines, you can do stuff like that…. Salvation in aisle 6!) (laughing) … To God be the glory! You guys had a huge part in that. In fact, I have a picture here from March 27th, 2020. This is Pastor Pat three years ago, giving me a check for $100,000 from your church. That was one month before we closed on the property, and also while this thing called COVID was breaking out. Our renovation continues as we’re on our last phase of renovation, and we don’t own one penny on that property… To the glory of God!

My next number is 13. There are 13 different countries represented in our congregation. We also give God the glory for that! The nations are at our doorstep, and we absolutely love it! We’re so thankful. Here’s a picture of a gal named Cassindi Lillungu. Cassindi has an amazing story of salvation! She’s from the Congo, and we got to baptize her just a few weeks ago! She was our first Congolese baptism. (And all God’s people said, “Amen,” for the Congo! That’s awesome!) We love that the nations are right in our neighborhood! God has been really good to us. I could go on and on, but we’ve got to move on.

515 is the next number. That was the attendance number at our Easter services just a few months ago. We give God all the glory! Things have not slowed down since Easter. Things are cranking up at Living Waters. There are so many open doors and so many opportunities to share Jesus with so many people. We’re the right church at the right time in the right neighborhood for the glory of God. Please pray for us, (Would you?) that we’d be wise in how we steward the opportunities that we are being given right now. In fact, this morning, a guy that I led to Christ eight years ago preached the word at Living Waters this morning. That is so cool! So praise the Lord for that!

My last number is 2. That number stands for the people that were saved at our church last Sunday morning… glory to God! A gal and a guy got saved. The guy is a young man who converted to Christianity from Buddhism… Hallelujah! We’re trying to make all these connections cross culturally, and we’re seeing some amazing things happen! His name is Braden, and you can pray that God would be stirring in his life to bear much fruit for the kingdom. We’re having opportunities to share Christ with his family who are all Buddhist, and we’re trusting God for great things.

I preached on Herod last week. Herod didn’t give God the glory, so God gave him worms. Just so I don’t break out in worms and fall down on the stage… to God be the glory for what He is doing!

Now for the real reason we’re here… the word of God. If you have a copy of God’s Word, go ahead and open to Luke 9:28-36 where we’re going to be this morning.

Luke 9:28-36 (ESV), “Now about eight days after these sayings He took with Him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as He was praying, the appearance of His face was altered, and His clothing became dazzling white. 30 And behold, two men were talking with Him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of His departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him. 33 And as the men were parting from Him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. (…and all God’s people said the word of God is funny at times!) 34 As He was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to Him!” 36 And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.”

Praise God for the reading and for the hearing of His word. Let’s pray together.

Father, You’re so good to us. This word is so good for us. Jesus Christ, the Lord and Savior of the universe, transfigured before Peter, James and John… what a glimpse into the unseen realm! This moment would change those apostles’ lives, and, Lord, may it change our lives too. Lord, this is a massive thing that you are doing in a realm that we can’t see, but we know it’s there. Your Gospel marches forward… You’re saving sinners… You’re building up saints… You’re moving Your kingdom forward. Nothing will stop it! God, give us a greater understanding of this whole topic of the unseen realm, and may it lead us to Jesus Christ, His cross and His resurrection. Lord, may You do a work in the hearts of believers. Would you encourage us, strengthen us, equip us to be sanctified and growing in our walk with God? Lord, for those who are here that do not yet know Jesus, would You lead them to repentance and faith? Would you do all this for Your glory? In Christ’s name…. Amen.

Our sermon series is Theology on Fire! and my sermon title this morning is Jesus wins! Understanding the Unseen Realm. When I say unseen realm, I simply mean the supernatural world that exists beyond our physical world, filled with good and evil, angels and demons, light and darkness, Jesus and Satan, heaven and hell, etc. You get the gist. We find ourselves today in a modern conflict. On the one hand, there’s a huge disinterest in Jesus and the unseen realm. Money has totally consumed people’s priorities and is wrecking people. Materialism has distracted people’s schedules. Technology has absorbed people’s minds, or at least their faces… Amen? Sports have warped our people’s ideas of glory. We’re losing our grip on what the Bible says about what real glory is. On the other hand, America is more obsessed than ever with the spiritual realm. Here’s what I mean. TV shows and movies that have spiritual dimensions or some connection to the unseen realm are super popular right now. UFO interest has always been intriguing to our culture, but it’s becoming more mainstream. Here’s what I mean. After David Grusch, a UAP [Unidentified Aerial Phenomena] whistleblower, appeared before the House Oversight Committee’s National Security Subcommittee on July 25th, it made the headlines for a week. In our day and age, that’s a long time! Some of you may even have watched it. What about the James Webb telescope giving us images we’ve never seen before about our universe? There’s, also, this guy named Elon Musk. Between the James Webb  telescope and Elon Musk, they’ve ramped up people’s interest in space and the billions of galaxies that surround us. Today, many Christians feel conflicted and don’t know what to do with the Gospel, because there’s so much information coming at us all the time about the topic of the unseen realm. Most people swing like a pendulum between apathy, secularism, atheism, materialism, apathy about the Gospel… or panicked obsession! ‘I’ve got to know everything about this little rabbit trail. I’ve got to figure it all out.’ Pat talked about last week in his sermon on the Holy Spirit. He said that sometimes the Holy Spirit is referred to as the forgotten God. I would add this, that the Bible has become the “forgotten” book. Even many Christians have very little idea about the Bible and what it has to say about the unseen realm. I’m here to tell you this morning that the Bible has all the essential things we need to know for life and Godliness and of what’s going on in the unseen realm around us.

Let me encourage you this morning. You don’t have to be scared of any passage in the Bible. Jesus rules and reigns… Amen? This book is beautiful to study, and the more you study it, the more you will feel confident about your theological state regarding the unseen realm. There’s so much to discover, and I only have 30 minutes to talk! I will do my best to scratch the surface of this doctrine of the unseen realm, to hopefully build within you a hunger and a thirst for the Word of God so your theology is on fire! When the Bible speaks about all the activity and power of the unseen realm, Christians need to know with 100% confidence that Jesus wins! If you’re a Christian, as you keep getting hit day after day with all this information, it might make you doubt or might make you wonder what’s going on. I’m going to give you four truths from Scripture to help you understand the unseen realm.

Truth #1 – The unseen realm is real.

Ephesians 6:10-12 (ESV), “Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might. Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the schemes of the devil. For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

As an introductory point, the unseen realm is absolutely real! We’re not talking about fairy tales. Ephesians 6 should sound familiar to you. Pastor Pat preached on this very passage of scripture on January 1st of this year. If you don’t remember that sermon, go give it another listen. It’s really, really good! He was talking about the warfare that we encounter as Christians. Ephesians 6 tells us that we are not living our lives merely in the flesh and blood arena. We are living in the arena of the heavenly realm. Paul says that Christians wrestle against rulers and authorities and cosmic powers and spiritual forces. Your life is a wrestling match. (I guess we need to give Pat [Nemmers] a shout out for wrestling… Right? I’m a basketball player so I hesitate.) Paul says that Christians wrestle. We wrestle against rulers and authorities and cosmic powers and spiritual forces. The Bible is filled with this truth about the unseen realm. I want to encourage you. Colossians chapter 2, verses 14 and 15, tells us that Jesus rules overall of it… Amen?

Colossians 2:[13]14-15 (ESV) “And you, who were dead in your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, God made alive together with Him, having forgiven us all our trespasses, by canceling the record of debt that stood against us with its legal demands. This He set aside, nailing it to the cross. He disarmed the rulers and authorities and put them to open shame, by triumphing over them in Him.”

The Bible is on fire with discussion about the unseen realm, from beginning to end, from cover to cover! What do I mean? Well, how about Lucifer and his failed heavenly coup? He tried to rebel against God. God threw him down along with a third of the angels. That’s a fairly supernatural, unseen realm story that is foundational and fundamental to our faith. As you read through the Old Testament, you have Old Testament saints seeing visions… angels… dreams… writing about the divine council… seas parting, walls falling down and a king (Nebuchadnezzar) eating grass. Then you’ve got heavenly chariots coming down from heaven to get Elijah… This is wild and crazy stuff! This is the unseen realm. In the New Testament, saints are healing people… experiencing resurrection… sharing the Gospel… seeing sinners get saved… Paul gets caught up into the third heaven! Have you ever read that before? They’re taking on every single world view known to man and they’re proclaiming Jesus is Lord! They’re boldly willing to die for Jesus Christ, the most important person of them of all! Jesus came down to earth from heaven, from the unseen realm! He takes on flesh and dwells among us… He’s born of a virgin (which is a miracle if you didn’t know!) He was sinless, transfigured, crucified, rose from the dead and ascended into heaven! This is our Jesus, the King of the unseen realm, and He’s coming again to dwell among us! The unseen battle is real! The unseen realm is real! If you’ve been so materialistic this week that you’re just like, ‘Yeah… whatever, dude…’ It’s real! You better click in.

Truth #2 – The unseen realm is glorious!

Luke 9:28-29 (ESV), “Now about eight days after these sayings He took with Him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. And as He was praying, the appearance of His face was altered, and His clothing became dazzling white.”

The unseen realm is glorious! Jesus’ transfiguration is found in all three synoptic gospels: in Matthew chapter 17, Luke chapter 9 and in Mark chapter 9.

As a new believer, I always wondered what the glowing Jesus story was about. Didn’t you? I remember the first time I read about the transfiguration, I thought, ‘What is going on?! That was really cool, but what was the purpose?’ Jesus is on this mountain praying, and as He’s praying, His skin begins to shine with divine glory! He literally experiences a metamorphosis, like a caterpillar turning into a butterfly! The word “metamorphosis” in the Greek means to “to change from a one object to another.”

For a few minutes, His divine nature is allowed to be revealed to Peter, James, and John… who are sleeping, by the way. They’re sleeping! The glory of God is being revealed! Jesus is not reflecting God’s glory. He’s revealing His glory! Do you remember when Moses saw God and it made his face shine? They had to put a curtain in front of his face… (very weird!) Moses was just reflecting the glory of God… but the glory is coming up from inside of Jesus! In Matthew’s Gospel, it says that His face shown like the sun!

Where are they? There’s scholarly debate on whether they are on Mount Herman or some other mountain. It’s my opinion that it’s Mount Herman, because it’s located in the northernmost part of Israel. Mount Herman was known for its evil, its paganism, its historic idolatry, its Baal worship. This place was associated with demons and forces of darkness and the occult. I think Jesus went to that mountain in particular to transfigure to send a message to the spiritual forces of darkness, that He is glorious, that He IS the very GOD of GODs and He’s here to win!

Michael Heiser in his excellent book on “The Unseen Realm” said this.

“I’m putting the hostile powers of the Unseen Realm on notice. I’ve come to earth to take back what is mine. The kingdom of God is at hand.” Michael Heiser – “The Unseen Realm”

The forces of darkness were wreaking havoc in the world and Jesus was putting them on notice! I think about Superman who is really Clark Kent. He’s got his street clothes on and just before he becomes Superman, he pulls open his shirt to reveal a big “S” underneath! (I will not do that this morning.) He’s running onto the scene and everybody who’s watching the movie knows he’s going to win!

That’s how I think about this passage. As Jesus reveals His glory and is transfigured, I think He’s showing the spiritual forces of darkness, the false gods like Baal and all the other evil powers, ‘This is ME! You’ve lost! I’ve won, and I’m coming!’ I think that’s an amazing picture!

He’s saying to these spirits, these dark spirits of darkness, I AM the great I AM!

John 8:58 (ESV), “Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I AM!”

He’s also saying, ‘I’m here to destroy the works of the devil.’

1 John 3:8 (ESV), “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil, for the devil has been sinning from the beginning. The reason the Son of God appeared was to destroy the works of the devil.”

That’s good! He’s also saying, ‘I’m reclaiming My creation. I AM absolutely reclaiming what is Mine through My death, burial and resurrection. This is MY world… NOT yours!’ Satan is the prince of the power of the air… but he’s just a renter… Amen?

Then Jesus says,

Matthew 16:18 (ESV), “… I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

The transfiguration is this glorious appearance of Jesus, a preview of the Second Coming! That’s exactly how Christ is going to look when He comes back through that sky to get us, when you hear that trumpet sound… Amen?! The unseen realm is glorious in that Jesus wins!

This is why church planting is so important! In the Engage Network, we take the Gospel into neighborhoods that are dark… Amen? We go into the places that need the Gospel, and we shine, not our own light. We reflect the glorious Gospel of Jesus Christ in the places of darkness.

Here’s a little message to Eden Church [the 7th church soon to be planted from the Engage Network.] If you’re here and you’re going to be a part of Eden Church, you are a part of something amazing! You’re going into North Des Moines, probably one of the easiest place in the world to plant a church. (As a south-sider, I can say this…!) I just want to encourage you. The name of Jesus and His Gospel still put Satan, the demons and spiritual forces of darkness on notice, so go with confidence into North Des Moines! Absolutely blow it up with the light of Christ! Preach the Gospel knowing that God has sent you and Jesus is the winner!

Truth #3 –  The unseen realm is Gospel centered.

Luke 9:30-31 (ESV), ”And behold, two men were talking with Him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.”

Moses and Elijah show up with Jesus in physical, glorified bodies (… and all God’s people said, ‘Amazing! This is mind blowing!’) Moses and Elijah are so important because of who they are and who they represent. In their lives, both Moses and Elijah had strange and very supernatural exits out of this world. Moses didn’t get to go into the Promised Land. God buried him in a mountain range, and there was a supernatural tussle over the body of Moses in the unseen realm over his body between Michael and Satan. We know this because Jude tells us so in Jude, chapter one, verse nine. It says,

Jude 1:9 (ESV), “But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.”

That‘s a strange and supernatural exit!

What about Elijah? Elijah never died. He was taken up by a chariot of fire! That’s supernatural! It’s strange and impossible to explain by human means. Moses represented the law. Elijah represented the prophets. Both Moses and Elijah had specific interests in hearing what Jesus was talking about, because Jesus was talking about His cross. He was talking about His death, burial and resurrection with these two men who were very interested in this. Just imagine Moses. You know how much that guy had to endure from the people that he led out of Egypt, but then God told him to speak to the rock. Instead, he struck the rock, and because of that, he wasn’t able to enter into the Promised Land. What a bummer! He doesn’t get to usher in God’s rule and reign in the kingdom of God. His life ends with disappointment.

What about Elijah? He had just defeated 4,000 false prophets of Baal at Mount Carmel! (What a great story!)  He out runs the chariot of Ahab to the city. (How fast is this guy? We’re talking Olympic gold medalist here!) As he’s running, he’s thinking Jezebel is going to just bow down… He was thinking he was going to usher in the kingdom of God, that it was going to be an amazing experience! Instead… It took just one woman to shut down this prophet when Jezebel said, ‘… I’m going to cut your head off!’ In fear, Elijah runs into the wilderness, completely disillusioned and discouraged! He even asked God to take his life… ‘God, just take me home!’ God had to nurse him back to health. He named Elisha as his mentee. As Elijah was walking with Elisha, a chariot of fire came down and took him away! But he never got to see the kingdom come. Elijah’s life, also, ended with disappointment.

Just imagine, Moses and Elisha are there on the mountain. Christ is talking to them and saying, ‘What you couldn’t be, I AM. What you couldn’t deliver, I will. Your life of heartbreak and disappointment is now found in joy and satisfaction knowing that I AM is here! I’m the fulfillment of what you could never be.’ Praise God! Jesus says, ‘Here’s how My departure is going to go down…. I’m going to die on the cross.’ ‘What?!’ ‘I’m going to bleed for the sins of man, then I’m going to die. I’m going to be buried… But then, I’m going to rise again to defeat death! This is going to be the fulfillment of the Kingdom of God!’

This victory had to come through the unseen realm. Jesus had to go punch Satan in the face… Amen?! He had to beat death… to win at the cross! This is the Great Plan! This is… the Gospel!’

Notice, they weren’t talking about how cool they were with glorified bodies… Rabbit trails… No! The unseen realm is meant to point you to Jesus… to the cross… to grab your heart and grip you with the greatness and glory of the Gospel! If your study of the unseen realm is not leading you to the cross of Jesus Christ, you’re doing it wrong!

The last point, #4 – The unseen realm carries with it a big impact.

Luke 9:32-36 (ESV), “Now Peter and those who were with Him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him. 33 And as the men were parting from Him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for You and one for Moses and one for Elijah” (‘Let’s do it!’) not knowing what he said. 34 As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to Him!” 36 And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.”

Just seeing the glory of Jesus in the unseen realm, even for a minute, changed their lives… forever! Peter, James and John were never the same for the rest of the years that God gave them on this earth! They saw what we long to see…  Jesus in His glory! Peter, James and John had fallen asleep while Jesus was praying… This seems to be a theme in their lives! What a shock it must have been to wake up to the glorified Jesus! (The moral of the story is never fall asleep in a prayer meeting led by Jesus Christ!) So what are they doing? Well, John is quiet. James is quiet, and good old Peter, well… he’s always got to say something, doesn’t he? I love Peter! Praise the Lord for him! (John McArthur, in his commentary said, ‘This is staggering self-confidence from Peter… Staggering! You’re seeing glory and you’re still moving your mouth. That’s an amazing accomplishment.’) But what does Peter say? ‘Let’s build some tabernacles…’ Doesn’t that seem weird? He’s saying that because the Feast of Tabernacles was happening at that time, so Peter is likely thinking this is the fulfillment of God tabernacling with his people…. This is the glory… This is the kingdom…. This is going to mean Rome is defeated in world domination! ‘Let’s just build these tabernacles and stay here and worship forever!’ That’s not a bad impulse by Peter, but God, the Father, says, ‘Shhh… quiet! This is my Beloved Son. Listen to Him!’ And coming down the mountain Jesus says, ‘Oh, by the way… you don’t get to tell anybody!’ Can you imagine being those three guys? I think Jesus is thinking ‘You’re just going to mess this up! Talk about it… later!’ It impacted their lives forever! How do I know that? The Bible tells me so.

As an old man, Peter said in 2 Peter, chapter 1, verses 16 and 18,

2 Peter 1:16-18 (ESV), “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to Him by the Majestic Glory, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,” 18 we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain.”

What’s that? That’s the transfiguration reference right there! Peter is an old man. He’s saying, ‘I still remember it like it was yesterday… this glory that we saw!’ John also said that. He never forgot about it either!

John 1:14 (ESV), “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

This is one of the most famous Bible verses, and you probably even have it memorized.

You guys, they never lost the impact… ever!

I want to close the sermon by saying this. When you see the glory of God in this way it will impact you the rest of your life! It should lead you to an exalted view of Jesus Christ! It will leave you stamped with an impact!

I remember.. still to this day… when I got saved 24 years ago on July 6, 1999! I was in New York City in the back of this room filled with a thousand kids. There was a kid from Texas on the stage sharing a very simple Gospel message. At that time, I was running [metaphorically] a thousand miles in the wrong direction… full of pride, selfishness and unbelief, and that simple Gospel message… wrecked my life! The next thing I knew, I was on my knees weeping, repenting and … believing in Jesus Christ! All I saw was light! I remember it just like it was yesterday! When you see the unseen realm like that, it will have an impact on your life for the rest of your life! For those of you who know Christ, you know exactly what I’m talking about!

As we close, the Bible speaks about the unseen realm and all of its activity and power. Christians need to know with 100% confidence that Jesus wins! Amen? You can believe it, so Christian, go out with confidence. In spite of all the headlines, all the static and information this week… walk with confidence in the unseen realm, relying on what Jesus says!

The unseen realm is real, it’s glorious, it’s gospel centered, and it’s impacting. For those of you who do not yet know Jesus… I hope you were introduced to Him today. He’s glorious! He’s in heaven. Some of you need to repent and believe in Him. He’s real. The resurrection account is true, and He’s ready to forgive any person that is willing to come to Him with humility. May God do it!

Let’s pray.

Lord, thank you for this time in the Word. Thank you for this amazing truth about the transfiguration and the unseen realm! Oh God, wake us up as Western Christians… materialistic, agnostic, atheistic, pragmatic, etc… we are all those things, God. Oh Lord, how we need to be swept up with confidence in Your glory, Jesus! Lord, may we Christians sense that in the decisions that need to be made in our lives today, to experience Your glory. May we love the cross, the resurrection and the hope that goes beyond this life. Lord, for those who may not know Jesus, would you draw them in? You are glorious! You are resurrected! You will draw any sinner that will repent and believe in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. So Lord, may You move even one person to saving faith for your glory. In Jesus’ name… Amen.