Moses – What Does This Mean?

Sunday School: Transfiguration

Encore Post: At the Transfiguration, Jesus appeared to his disciples in his full glory as God. It ends the season of Epiphany where it began, with a theophany — an appearance of God. At the Baptism of Jesus, the Father spoke over his Son from heaven and the Holy Spirit appeared as a dove. Now the Father speaks from the Cloud of God’s Presence and with him is the Holy Spirit.

But that is not all. With Jesus appeared the two greatest witnesses of the Old Testament — Moses and Elijah. God used Moses to lead his people out of Egypt and gave the Law to them through him. God buried Moses when he died. Elijah was the great and fearless prophet, whom God carried into heaven in a chariot of fire. God promised the Messiah to Moses, calling the Messiah a prophet like him. The prophets predicted Elijah would return to witness to the Messiah on the day the Messiah would come.

Now on the mountain of Transfiguration, Moses and Elijah discussed with Jesus his Exodus — his departure. As Moses led Israel through the Red Sea to freedom, Jesus would bring us all through death to everlasting life by his death on the cross. Not knowing what to make of it all — Peter offered to set up tents like the people used in the wilderness wanderings. As usual, Peter missed the point.

So the Cloud of God’s Glory appeared on the mountain. In that cloud, the Angel of the Lord led the people by day through the wilderness and showed God’s presence in tabernacle and temple. From this Cloud, God the Father speaks a second time. “This is my Beloved Son,” he said, “listen to him.”

The message of Transfiguration is that Jesus is God, yet He set aside His glory to die for our sins. We should serve God by doing what He says and serving one another.

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Rev. Robert E. Smith

Pastor Emeritus

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Called by the Gospel

Encore Post: God’s grace knows no limit. He loves us so much that all three persons work for our salvation. The Father chose us to be his before the world was made. He sent the Son to die for us. The Son became a flesh-and-blood man, lived a perfect life for us, suffered and died to pay the price for our sins and rose from the dead so that we might rise to live forever.

The Holy Spirit makes us holy — sanctifies us. In theology, we use the word sanctification in two ways. The first is everything the Spirit does from placing faith in our hearts to maintaining it to the day of our death. The second way we use it is for everything the Spirit does after he saves us. Martin Luther describes the first definition in this way: “the Holy Spirit has called me by the Gospel, enlightened me with his gifts, sanctified and kept me in the one, true Faith…” (Small Catechism, Creed, 2.3)

The Holy Spirit calls us through the preaching of God’s Word.(2 Thessalonians 2:13-14) He inspired Moses, David, the prophets, evangelists, apostles and the other human authors of the Scriptures to record his words. In the Word of God we find the law, which condemns us all as sinners, worthy of eternal death, and the gospel, which reveals that God is gracious to us for the sake of Jesus’ death on the cross and will forgive all those who believe this. This gospel is preached to us by those God sends to do so, read in the Bible and when put together with water in Baptism. In this way the Holy Spirit calls us to faith in Jesus. (Romans 10:14-17, Titus 3:5-7)

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

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God’s Name

Encore Post: Moses was minding his father-in-law’s sheep in the Sinai Desert one day. When he saw a bush on fire, he noticed it was not burning up. Curious, he went to see what was happening. The Son of God spoke to him from the bush in the form of the Angel of the Lord. God called him to lead his people out of slavery in Egypt. During his conversation with God, Moses asked for God’s name. That name is Yahweh, which means “I am Who I am.” The Old Testament uses this name for God.

After the Jewish people returned from exile in Babylon, they decided never to pronounce this name. Instead, they used the word Adonai, which means “My Lord.” When they wrote down the text of God’s Word to read in the synagogue, they put the vowels of Adonai together with the consonants of Yahweh. This technique reminded the reader not to speak God’s name. When the Old Testament was translated into Greek, the translator used the word Kurios — Lord — in its place. Most English translations follow that custom.

Christians need not avoid saying Yahweh, but by custom often do so. The word Lord has become a cherished name for our Heavenly Father… And his son, Jesus.

Rev. Robert E. Smith

Concordia Theological Seminary

Fort Wayne, Indiana

Blog Post Series

Bread From Heaven Five Ways

Encore Post: From the time that people began to plant crops until this very day, bread has been a basic food for people. God fed His people in the wilderness with manna to teach them to trust their Heavenly Father for daily bread. Later Satan would tempt Jesus to make stones into bread rather than trust Him. Jesus quoted what Moses said to Israel about Manna: “people do not live only on bread but on every word that God speaks.” (Deuteronomy 8:3)

Later, God would do other miracles with bread. The Prophet Elijah would feed the widow and her son with bread — their flour and oil did not run out for years. Elisha would feed one hundred men with a few loaves. Jesus would feed crowds in the desert with a few loaves and fishes. The crowds knew what it meant — Jesus was the Messiah and like Moses and Elijah.

Jesus also used bread in another way. During His Last Supper, Jesus took bread, broke it, blessed it and gave His body for them to eat. To this day, when we gather for communion, Jesus feeds us with His body — the true Bread from Heaven. When we receive this bread, we are given strength for our journey through this life to life everlasting.