Psalm 85, 86; Ezek. 1:28-3:3; Heb. 4:14-5:6; Luke 9:28-36
Ezekiel knows from the start that this mission will not win him friends. His message is that the Lord is not pleased and the words he is given are words of lamentation, mourning and woe. The message is similar to the message Stephen gives in Acts 7, the message for which he is stoned to death. God’s accusations include that Israel is impudent, stubborn and rebellious, always has been and always will be. Ezekiel is warned to not be like them in his prophetic ministry, he is to deliver the words the Lord gives him exactly as he receives them. He is finally given a scroll on which the Lord has written and told to eat the words of that scroll and then regurgitate them to the people. In his mouth they were sweet as honey because they were indeed the Lord’s words.
Moses and Elijah are representatives of the law and the prophets, the word of God to His people. Here on the mountain the three disciples experience something like Abraham did when the Lord appeared to him in the covenant ceremony, they fall into sleep and are awakened as the Lord manifests these two men speaking with Jesus. They believe Jesus to be like these men, high acclaim indeed, but not high enough. When the cloud covers them and then lifts the two men are gone and Jesus alone is with the disciples. The voice from the cloud tells them that “this” is my son, listen to Him. Jesus stands alone but in line with the law and the prophets. If they have Jesus they don’t need these other two, His word and theirs are the same but He speaks with a different authority, the authority of a Son. Whatever the disciples believe about Messiah they know from the law and the prophets but they have not fully understood, their understanding needs to come from Jesus Himself.
How important is the incarnation? The writer of Hebrews says here that it is incredibly important to us in that Jesus knows our temptations and knows how difficult this life is since sin entered the world. He has experienced all that we have yet without sin and so He is able to sympathize with us in our weakness. I need a priest who knows my trials even though He has triumphed, He knows how hard this is and that we live by sight too often and not by faith. This would not be tempting if God hadn’t created so wonderfully in the first place. Even sin hasn’t destroyed its “good-ness.” We don’t realize that compared to what could have been and what awaits us that this is, by comparison, a pig-sty. Jesus deals with us in mercy and grace, not judgment and loathing. Even though He did not sin, He sympathizes with those who do and continues to forgive and encourage.
All hail the power of Jesus' name!
Let angels prostrate fall;
bring forth the royal diadem,
to crown him, crown him, crown him Lord of all!
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