“The Glory of the Lord Revealed”
Exodus 24:8-18 & Matthew 17:1-9
2-15-2026
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. Amen. Did you ever wish you could see God? Did you ever wish you could hear His voice? If my guess is correct, almost every believer, and not a few skeptics, have wished these things. We’ve got this notion that if God revealed Himself and His glory in a visible and audible manner, like He did in our Old Testament reading, then that would make it so much easier for us to believe. Really? I’m sorry, but I don’t buy that for a minute. All you have to do is look at Israel’s history and you’ll see it’s not true. And if God revealed Himself today as He did there at Mt. Sinai, people would conjure up all kinds of weird scenarios to explain it.
When the Lord appeared on Mt. Sinai, He cloaked His presence in a heavy cloud. That wasn’t all. Verse 17 says that “the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a devouring fire.” Now if I was a skeptic and witnessed that today, you know what would come to mind? The Wizard of Oz. Seriously. Do you remember what happened when Dorothy and her companions finally got in to have an audience with the Wizard? There were flames shooting up here and there, billows of smoke, and horrendous thunder with flashes of light accompanied by the ominous voice of the Wizard. Sounds a little like Mt. Sinai, doesn’t it? And we all know that eventually in The Wizard of Oz, the little dog, Toto, pulls back the curtain to reveal an old man, running the controls. There was no real Wizard. It was all a fake.
With that kind of mind set, many people, including some Christians, would view a display of God’s glorious presence with skepticism, not awe. It would go something like this: “It’s probably just an atmospheric phenomenon. Besides, if God is really responsible for this, He’s probably just some old, cosmic grandpa pulling off an impressive show.” On the other hand, many believers would accept it for what it is. And it would inspire fear as it did with the Israelites. But thankfully, this is not how God chooses to reveal Himself to us anymore. Rather, He reveals His divine glory to us through His Son. That’s the message we find in the account of the transfiguration of Jesus in the Gospel reading. And therein lies the connection between the incident at Mt. Sinai and the one at the Mount of Transfiguration.
To better understand that connection, we need to go back and examine what happened at Mt. Sinai. Actually, it would be helpful to first go all the way back to the Garden of Eden. Do you remember how Adam and Eve were able to experience the unveiled glory of God’s presence. That’s because they were sinless. But once they succumbed to the temptation of the devil, that ended. Nothing sinful can exist in the presence of God’s holiness. So, after the fall into sin whenever God revealed Himself to mankind, He had to veil His glory or else it would destroy sinful humans. One of His “modes of choice” was a thick cloud or fire. You may recall that as the nation of Israel was led out of Egypt, God appeared as a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire at night. When Moses would go to the Tent of Meeting the pillar of cloud would descend there, indicating God’s presence as He spoke with Moses. The same thing happened later when the Temple in Jerusalem was dedicated.
And so, it was with thick clouds and fire that God revealed His glory to Israel at Mt. Sinai. As I mentioned before, this inspired fear among the Israelites. Back in chapter 20 of Exodus, it says that when the people saw this revelation of God’s glory they trembled with fear. And rightfully so. God’s holiness was on full display. Due to their sinfulness, God was unapproachable to them. And yet, in a strange turn of events, God made it possible for them to approach His glory. It was made possible through the ceremony that we heard about at the beginning of our text.
It’s too bad that our text doesn’t tell you what preceded our reading for today because it’s important. Moses had built an altar at the foot of the mountain. They sacrificed animals to the Lord which is where the blood came from. Moses first sprinkled some of the blood on the altar and then sprinkled the rest on the people. Verse 8 tells us that it was the “blood of the covenant” between God and them. It marked them, both literally and spiritually, as His people. It was only because of God’s gracious covenant that they were able to come anywhere near His presence. For that to happen, they first had to be sanctified—made holy—by this sacred sprinkling of blood in order to experience God’s revealed glory. Only after they were sprinkled with the sign of the covenant did God invite their representatives to come into the presence of His glory. And what did God invite those men to do? They ate a covenant meal together in God’s glorious presence, safe and unharmed, because God had sanctified and invited them.
It’s significant to note what happened on the Mount of Transfiguration. As you know Jesus was God in the flesh. He came into our world possessing the full glory of God within Him (Col. 2:9.) But it was veiled in a human body, rather than a cloud. There on that mountain, though, God briefly revealed the divine glory of His Son. Jesus’ face and clothes were shining bright. Moses and Elijah appeared, indicating the connection to God’s covenant of old. Then, a bright cloud descended on them. God was making a clear connection between His mode of revealing His glory under the old covenant and now through His Son under the new covenant. Then, God the Father spoke from the cloud and identified Jesus as His only Son, the one who would make it possible for all people to experience the glory of God.
Like at Mt. Sinai, the preparation for that to happen was the sprinkling of blood. However, the blood of this new covenant was not from an animal. It was the shed blood of Jesus on the cross. The Book of Hebrews tells us that Jesus sprinkled His blood on the altar in heaven as a sin-offering for us. And we, His people, are then sprinkled with that blood in Holy Baptism. Yes, it’s in the form of water sprinkled on a person’s head, but the Scriptures tell us that it is the application of Christ’s redeeming blood through those holy waters which cleanses us from sin. That’s no small thing. Because without that sprinkling of Christ’s blood, we are not fit to be in the presence of God’s glory. But once we are cleansed and sanctified by His blood of the covenant, God invites us to come into His presence without the fear of being destroyed.
Jesus Himself identifies His blood as the blood of this new covenant. He did that at the Last Supper as He instituted Holy Communion. At Mt. Sinai, after the sprinkling of the blood, there was a meal held in God’s presence which signified the peace that the covenant brings. Now, with the new covenant, Jesus also invites us to a meal. Sanctified by His blood, He invites us to a meal in His presence where He reveals His glory to us. That glory of Christ is not veiled in the fearsome display of fire and a thick cloud. Rather, His presence at this meal is veiled in the simple elements of bread and wine. These elements bring joy and nourishment to both body and soul along with the forgiveness of sins. Just as the disciples and other believers could approach the glory of God through the bodily presence of Jesus, we too can experience His glory through His bodily presence in this Holy Supper.
At the beginning of this sermon, I said that some folks think that if they could only see the glory of God on display like the Israelites did that it would make it easier to believe. As I told you, I don’t buy that. Because if you’ll look at the history of Israel, you’ll see it’s not true. They saw with their own eyes the awesome presence of God’s glory in the cloud and fire on Mt. Sinai. And do you remember what they did shortly after that awesome revelation? Did they humbly bow in adoration of their glorious, redeeming God? No. They grew impatient while Moses was on that mountain for 40 days. The visible presence of God was still there, but they chose to ignore it. They despised the cleansing they had received in the sprinkling of the blood of the covenant. Instead, they wanted a god they could see and approach, so they made the golden calf which they worshiped. Likewise, when Jesus came revealing God’s glory in human form, many despised it. They also ignored and despised the shedding of His blood for their sake on the cross.
Is that any different than today? Christ sprinkles us with His sanctifying blood of the new covenant in Baptism, but how many believers haven’t ignored and ultimately despised their Baptisms? Is that not a rejection of God’s glory? God promises to bring the glory of His presence among us here as we gather for worship and in a very intimate meal of peace in the Lord’s Supper. And yet, worship and the Sacrament are despised by many. Do we treat it with the awe of knowing that God’s glorious presence is here? Or is worship and the Sacrament a hit and miss proposition? Kind of a “I can take it or leave it” attitude? Is that not a despising of God’s glorious presence?
Despite all that, in His mercy, God continues to invite us. He invites us to come to this holy place and experience again the sprinkling of the blood of His forgiveness as we confess all our sins and receive His absolution. As His sanctified people, God invites us to experience His glory through the proclaiming of His Holy Word. In the mystery of the Lord’s Supper, the Son of God invites us to experience the glory of His holy presence. In this meal, we have God’s assurance of peace between us and Him through Christ’s blood of the new covenant. In all these ways, God invites you to approach His glory without fear. So, may the gift of His glory be in us and among us as we enjoy His holy presence. And we pray as His children that we would be radiant with His glory as we reflect it to our world which is caught in the darkness of sin. May God grant it for Jesus’ sake. Amen.
Soli Deo Gloria!