Time in the Word - Transfiguration

Collect for the transfiguration of Our Lord: O God, in the glorious Transfiguration of Your beloved Son You confirmed the mysteries of the faith by the testimony of Moses and Elijah. In the voice that came from the bright cloud You wonderfully foreshowed our adoption by grace. Mercifully make us co-heirs with the King of His glory and bring us to the fullness of our inheritance in heaven; through the same Jesus Christ, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

“Moses was faithful in all God’s house as a servant,” but Christ Jesus “has been counted worthy of more glory than Moses” (Heb. 3:3, 5). A beloved and well-pleasing Son, faithful even to the point of death, Jesus’ own body was raised up on the third day as the house of God, and He has brought us into that house through the waters of Holy Baptism (Heb. 3:6). Thus, it was not Moses the lawgiver, but his successor, Joshua (the Hebrew name for Jesus), who led the people into the promised land (Deut. 34:1–4, 9). Now, on the Mount of Transfiguration, the New Testament Joshua appears in the glory that He is about to manifest by His “departure” (exodus) in Jerusalem (Luke 9:31). Having entered the waters of the Jordan in His Baptism, He passed through those waters and entered into glory by His Cross and Passion. What He thereby accomplished in His own flesh and blood, crucified and risen, He reveals and gives to His Body, the Church, by the means of His Word. Therefore, the Father declares from heaven, “Listen to Him!” (Luke 9:35).

Monday, 8 February 2010—Psalm 84:1–2, 9, 11; Antiphon, Psalm 84:4—The Introit sings of the great joy of being in God’s house. What better place to be, than in the Lord’s house on the Lord’s Day, when He is bringing His good gifts of forgiveness, life, and salvation to us through Word and Sacrament! What better place to be than at the Lord ’s Table, where we receive the body and blood of Christ, crucified for us for the forgiveness of sins! Blessed are those who dwell in your house, ever singing your praise!

Tuesday, 9 February 2010—Psalm 99—The key verse is v. 9: Exalt the Lord our God, and worship at his holy mountain; for the Lord our God is holy! This psalm is a hymn of praise, which focuses attention on God’s gracious dealings with His people. His holiness is extolled, a holiness which makes sinners fear and tremble to be in His presence, but then the psalm proclaims that we can approach Him, for He has made a way for us to do so: He is a forgiving God. In the past, he gave priests such as Moses and Aaron and Samuel to mediate between God and man, but now He has give His Son, Jesus Christ, as the perfect priest for all of us who believe on His name. We can approach Him and Exalt the Lord our God and worship at His holy mountain.

Wednesday, 10 February 2010—Deuteronomy 34:1–12—This last chapter of Deuteronomy recounts the death of Moses. Because of his disobedience, he was not allowed by God to go into the Promised Land, but he was allowed to see it. When Moses died, the Lord buried him where no one man knows, but later the archangel Michael would dispute with the devil over the bones of Moses (Jude 9). Moses would then later appear on the mount of transfiguration with Elijah and Jesus. He enjoys a far better Promised Land than the physical land of Canaan; he enjoys the beatific vision in heaven, which reward awaits all believers in the promise and fulfillment of God for the forgiveness of sins in Christ.

Thursday, 11 February 2010—Hebrews 3:1–6—Moses was the greatest of the prophets, but there is a still-greater prophet: Jesus Christ. Jesus is also extolled here as a great apostle and high priest. Prophets and apostles deliver the Word of God to mankind. Jesus is the Word made flesh who dwelt among us (John 1:14). Priests intercede between God and man, and the high priest offered up sacrifices to God on the Day of Atonement. Jesus, the great High Priest, offered up Himself as the greatest sacrifice, a one-time sacrifice that atoned for the sins of the whole world for all time.

Friday, 12 February 2010—Luke 9:28–36—This is a rare glimpse of the divinity of Jesus, which was cloaked in His humanity. Before Peter, James, and John, Jesus is transfigured, that is, His divine nature shows forth. With Him stand Moses and Elijah: Moses who was buried by God, and Elijah, who was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:11). The topic of their conversation is Jesus impending death, resurrection, and ascension, the fulfillment of all that these great Old Testament prophets had proclaimed to the people, the long-promised Messiah who delivers His people from their sins.

Saturday, 13 February 2010—Sunday’s hymn of the day is a liturgical hymn, O Wondrous Type! O Vision Fair (LSB 413), which recounts the Transfiguration of Our Lord in the first two stanzas, proclaims that we shall share in this splendor in eternity in the next two stanzas, and ends with a doxological stanza, that is, a hymn of high praise to the Holy Trinity.

Prayers from Lutheran Service Book © 2006 Concordia Publishing House
Woodcut by Julius Schnoor von Carolsfeld, a nineteenth-century German artist known especially for his book Das Buch der Bücher in Bilden (‘The Book of Books in Pictures’), ©WELS.

This week's Time in the Word is written by Pr. Jeff Keuning who serves St. John Dexter and Zion Casey IA