Our Return to Hermon

This week, we once again trekked the slopes of Mount Hermon to answer this question: what was the Transfiguration all about?

In case you missed it, you can catch up on the episode right here:

See It Visually

As promised, here is an infographic I created detailing the two covenants created at Sinai and Hermon- the Mosaic Covenant officiated by Moses, and the New Covenant officiated by Jesus.

A note on why some of the elements in the lower part of the image- such as the six-day wait and the glory cloud- are not mentioned in the upper section. That’s because they weren’t necessarily elements of a covenant; however, they were indeed parallels between the events that took place at both mountains. Jesus waited six days before ascending the mountain not because the covenant ritual required it, but because He wanted to pattern His actions after Exodus 19-24.

While the creation of a new covenant is certainly patterned after the old one, they are very different. While the Mosaic covenant was centered on a tabernacle (or temple), the blood of bulls and goats, and sacrifices and expectations, the new covenant is centered around Jesus. In fact, the new covenant is not just different from the old one; it’s different from any other religion known to man.

Jesus’ mediation of that covenant reminds me of this sermon illustration, which originated with English minister Dick Lucas. To demonstrate how radically different Christianity is from any other religion, he imagined a conversation between a first-century Christian and one of their pagan neighbors. 

“Ah,” the neighbor says. “I hear you are religious! Great! Religion is a good thing. Where is your temple or holy place?”

“We don’t have a temple,” replies the Christian. “Jesus is our temple.”

“No temple? But where do your priests work and do their rituals?”

“We don’t have priests to mediate the presence of God,” replies the Christian. “Jesus is our priest.”

“No priests? But where do you offer your sacrifices to acquire the favor of your God?”

“We don’t need a sacrifice,” replies the Christian. “Jesus is our sacrifice.”

“What kind of religion is this?” sputters the pagan neighbor.

What Jesus offers is radically different than any other religious system known to man. All other religions are about how to reach God. But Christianity is about how God came down to us. Other religions teach how to find God. Christianity teaches how God came to find you. Religion says what you must DO to go to heaven. Christianity tells us what Jesus DID to get us there. Truly, it’s no religion at all.

Coming Up

Tune back in this Wednesday for one more jaunt up the “unholy mountain” of Hermon. We will explore what the inhabitants of the spiritual realm must have thought about all this. It gets weird.

-Luke

P.S. If you’re looking for a little extra Bible study in your week, check out this video I recorded last month on Zechariah 9 and Alexander the Great.