Sunday, February 15, 2026
Transfiguration of Our Lord
Text: Exodus 24:8-18
Sermon Audio
As we gather… On this Sunday after Valentine’s Day, we think about spending time with our valentine. Maybe we had a wonderful date night, maybe we just stayed home and watched a movie on a streaming service. Regardless, we want to spend time with the one we love. What about God? How do we spend time with Him? We see the awesome sight of God in Exodus 24. Moses and the elders ate with God. Moses and Joshua spent 40 days with God on the mountain. Thunders flashed and a cloud obscured Moses and Joshua on the mountain. Jesus spent time with the disciples on the Transfiguration mount, but His glowed brighter than the sun. As we think about approaching God to spend time with Him, the key thing is bringing blood. Moses brought a sacrifice to sprinkle on the people. and Jesus’ blood cleanses us that we can approach God. How do we spend time with God? The blood of Jesus cleanses us that we can hear His Word rightly and that we can receive His body and blood in with and under bread and wine for our forgiveness, life, and salvation!
Grace, mercy, and peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.
As we just celebrated Valentine’s Day yesterday, our minds are set to think about love. There’s a lot of ways to tell someone I love you from extravagant acts of affection such as a dozen red roses or an expensive piece of jewelry. A simple way to tell someone, “I love you” is simply spending time with him or her.
Of course, life’s circumstances might mean you’re forced to be away from your loved one on Valentine’s Day, but it would be an odd thing to give your loved one a gift then go out to the movies with your friends instead of a date night with your wife.
Jesus loves you very much, but what does it mean to spend time with Him? It’s not as though you can grab ice cream downtown with Him or call Him up on the phone. Wouldn’t that be nice, though? I’m sure we’re all eager to ask Jesus a few questions of our own. But how do we draw near to God?
Just like Valentine’s Day, the answer comes from the heart, but not perhaps in the way you imagine. Throughout scripture, we learn BLOOD CLEANSES US TO DRAW NEAR TO GOD. Blood which comes from the heart cleanses and purifies us to spend time with the all holy and perfect God of the Universe.
First, I. Blood cleansed Moses to draw near to God on the mountain. “And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.” Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness.”
What an amazing account, what was it like to see the God of Israel? It must have been an awesome sight to behold. Furthermore, Moses and Joshua go up on the mountain to be with God for forty days wherein they received the law and the commandment. It was a terrifying sight as Moses went into the cloud and the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire.
In order for Moses, Joshua, and the rest of the elders to go up to draw near to God, they need blood. If we rewind and look at what’s earlier in the chapter, we see that Moses read the Book of the Covenant and the people promise “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” The blood seals the deal, and with these promises, the elders draw near to the mountain to be with God.
It was the blood of animals throughout the years of Israel’s history that let them approach God. It was the Lord’s way of saying that love requires sacrifice, and the blood of bulls and goats showed them that forgiveness came at a cost as the priests and high priests would approach the Lord in the Tabernacle and eventually the temple.
Moving to our Gospel text, II. Blood cleansed the disciples to draw near to Christ on the mountain. “And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James, and John his brother, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light.” They see Jesus talking to Moses and Elijah. Our text continues, “[Peter] was still speaking when, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.”
See the many similarities to this Gospel text and the Old Testament text. In both cases, Moses beholds God in the person of Jesus Christ. In both cases, they are on a mountain. In both cases, a cloud envelops the followers of God and to hear the voice of the Father is indeed a terrifying thing.
We start to see that approaching God is not quite the same as making plans to go see a movie with our Valentine. Not to be too glib, but for starters, you couldn’t take the Transfigured Christ to the movies, the manager would kick you out because Jesus’ face would outshine the projection screen. We don’t approach God the same way we approach a friend or loved one. There is an awesome and terrifying nature to approach the holiness of God. This holiness would burn us up like moths drawn to a flame.
But how does Christ comfort Peter, James, and John who are terrified? “But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only.” Jesus alone touches them and comforts them.
Furthermore, it is blood that bridges the gap between God and man. Later on in Jesus’ ministry, He would eat and drink with the disciples just as Moses, Aaron, and the elders did with God in our Old Testament text.
“Now as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, “Take, eat; this is my body.” And he took a cup, and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, “Drink of it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins.”
Jesus gives His disciples a new blood of the covenant, not one that is poured on people like in Moses’ time, but one that touches their lips and comforts them. This blood of the covenant ties the ultimate sacrifice of Jesus’ blood of the covenant shed on the cross to His disciples.
Indeed, the suffering, agony, and death of Christ and His subsequent resurrection are God’s love note to us. Through it, the Lord cleanses us so we can draw near to Him through faith without our sinfulness consuming us.
But this forgiveness of sins flows not only forward in time from Calvary, but backwards in time to Adam and Eve from the blood that was shed to cover their nakedness, to the ram Abraham sacrificed instead of Isaac, to the animals Moses and Aaron sacrificed to all the livestock slaughtered in the temple—all of this became efficacious, effective, through the blood of Christ as the people of Israel looked forward to the coming Savior whose blood would purify them and allow them to approach God.
The days after the Transfiguration would be some of the hardest the disciples would experience in their lives. As Jesus approached Jerusalem, His enemies sharpen their knives to kill Him, and eventually they do as He is arrested, tortured, crucified, and killed. Yet the words of comfort that Jesus spoke at His Last Supper encouraged the disciples, letting them know the suffering was worth it.
Finally, III. Blood cleanses us to draw near to Christ. A Valentine’s day dinner with a couple who has been married 50 years has a different vibe than a first date Valentine’s day dinner. The difference between a first date and a thousandth date is sacrifice. The married couple has been in the trenches together. They have loved, lost, and suffered together yet they still want to be with each other!
Our Lord has sacrificed everything for you, and just as He approached Moses, Aaron and the elders, and just as He took Peter, James, and John up the mountain, He too wants to draw near to you and love you. We are about to start the season of Lent, it’s 40 days not counting Sundays of reflection upon our sins, and turning from them through disciplines such as prayer, fasting, and almsgiving.
Moreover, it’s a time to set our eyes upon Jesus as the one who can truly make us turn from our wicked ways and follow Him. He is the one who touches us saying, “Rise and have no fear.”
He touches us and cleanses us as the waters of Baptism have washed us of our sins. “Rise and be baptized and wash away your sins, calling on His name.” He touches us and cleanses us as His words forgive us, guide us, and comfort us. Remember the Father said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him.” Moses spent 40 days on Mount Sinai recording the law from God. The disciples spent three years with Jesus, and the Holy Spirit came upon them to recall all His words. The words of the Gospel are indeed the words of eternal life.
Finally, the body and blood of Christ in the Lord’s Supper touch us and heal us and strengthen us for the journey ahead. Just as Moses and Aaron ate with God on the mountain and lived to tell the tale, just as the disciples shared with Jesus in His Last Supper, so too, the Lord is calling those who have been cleansed by baptism and belief in Christ to commune with Him not on Mount Sinai, but Mount Zion gathered with angels and archangels and all the company of heaven. With this encouragement, we can go with good cheer in these 40 days of Lent, awaiting the Easter celebration that is to come.
The peace of God which passes all understanding guard and keep you in the true faith unto life everlasting. Amen.