Listen to Him!

Mark 9  

¹And Jesus was saying to them, "Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power." ² Six days later, Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John, and brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; ³ and His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. ⁴ Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. ⁵Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; let us make three tabernacles, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." ⁶ For he did not know what to answer; for they became terrified. ⁷ Then a cloud formed, overshadowing them, and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!" ⁸ All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone. 

This morning I heard again the words of scripture saying, "This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!"

I shared some about this in my last post on listening but felt I needed to revisit it today. The most important interpretational principle of the Bible is to hear Jesus in every verse. 

Moses and Elijah were visiting Jesus to encourage him. They were speaking to him about his death and no doubt his resurrection. Peter, James and John got to catch some of the conversation and got excited about being in such distinguished company. Peter needing to say and do something decided to suggest making three tents for them. There are many ways to interpret what Peter was saying. Some think he was wanting to build three tents of worship like Moses tabernacle in the wilderness. Some think he was wanting to cover the intense glory from the sight of others. Some think he was just saying anything because he was terrified. The last fits the scripture best of all. What is sure is that God answered him by declaring that Jesus was His beloved son and he was the one to whom we are to listen.

Moses gave the law. Elijah was the pre-eminent  prophet. Both represent the Old Covenant. Both were sons of Adam born under the curse. Jesus was the Son of the Father born without sin in the new creation. Jesus is God. Moses is not. Elijah is not. Moses and Elijah had a wonderful revelation as Jesus spoke through them in the Old Testament. Their words need to be "heard" as they first listened to it, with Jesus' voice speaking.

Hebrews 1:1-3 

God, who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, ² Hath in these last days spoken unto us by his Son, whom he hath appointed heir of all things, by whom also he made the worlds; ³ Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high:

I cannot overstate this principle. Many in our world today believe that the acts of terrorism, cruelty an hatred are justified because they believe the Old Testament. But they have not heard Jesus speaking there. 

John 16:2
"They will make you outcasts from the synagogue, but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God.

Once we hear the voice of Jesus in the Old Testament it becomes a vital part of the love story God has had since before creation. His love becomes evident in every word as Jesus tells us the story. Let someone else speak the words, whose heart has not been touched by the love of the God who loved so much He gave His only begotten son Jesus and we may get a picture of hatred.   

This is why I tell people who are new to the faith not to spend time in the Old Testament early in their walk. And I further tell those who did and now seem stuck in an Old Covenant mindset to stop reading it for a time. Instead I ask people to get to deeply know Jesus starting  in the gospel of John. Reading it over and over for about six months is my suggestion. Then reading the other gospels for another six months. This way the person of Jesus, who he is, how he responds, his love for everyone he created, everything about him that we can know becomes imprinted on us. I would suggest that even for older believers this should be a pattern repeated often.

One of the great problems with written texts is the lack of non-verbal communication that makes up so much of our sharing with each other. The more I know a person however the better I am at "hearing" what they actually say when they write to me. By saturating ourselves with the direct history of God in Jesus we then are better able to "hear" what He is saying through the others through whom he wrote the scriptures. 

Once we are able to consistently "hear" the Lord speaking in the Gospels we can move to the rest of the New Testament and finally the Old Testament. 

John 1:1
In the beginning was the Word (Logos), and the Word (Logos) was with God, and the Word (Logos) was God.

I came to this understanding by walking through a period in my early days where I did not understand that Jesus was the Logos of God - the Word of God. I did not understand that when we "hear" Jesus speaking we "hear" God speaking. As I read the Old Testament without that understanding I did not understand the heart of the God whose words I read there. 

I used to naively tell Jesus, "I really like you but I am not so sure about your dad!" Then one day I was reading something that I had heard others interpret in a very angry, wrathful way. Suddenly I heard how Jesus would say it. It was so very different. It was filled with love. It was filled with pathos from a broken heart that longed for His people to follow the right path that they might not experience harm any longer. It was filled with love, not hate. That moment began the wonderful revelation not just of Jesus' love but of His and our Father's Love expressed in the Old Covenant writings of the Bible.

John 14:8-10

Philip said to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip? He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, 'Show us the Father'? 10 "Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but the Father abiding in Me does His works.