by Tim Chester
Do you suffer from FOMO—the Fear Of Missing Out? It’s the sense that somewhere there’s a fantastic party going on and you’ve not been invited. It’s a fear exacerbated by social media. Everyone else appears to be having an amazing time. You look through their feeds and see beautiful photos of holiday destinations or smiling faces at family gatherings or laughing people on a night out. Meanwhile you’re sitting at home on your sofa watching another re-run of Friends.
It’s a fear that can be felt in a distinctive way by Christians. We can feel as if our friends are having fun in ways that are closed off to us. Our sobriety means we don’t participate fully in their nights out. Our generosity means we can’t afford the fancy car they drive. Our service means we’re not available for their skiing holidays. Our chastity means we can’t enjoy all the sex they appear to be having. And so perhaps we wonder if we’re leading an empty life, missing out on full-on fun, trudging through life until we get to heaven. How does knowing Jesus overcome that feeling?
JESUS IS RADIANT (LUKE 9:28-36)
The Gospel writers are usually sparing in their descriptions of what Jesus looked like, but there is one exception. On the mountain of transfiguration, Luke tells us, “The appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became as bright as a flash of lightning” (Luke 9:29). Imagine a flash of lightning that doesn’t disappear in a second but continues to illuminate the sky—that was what Jesus looked like. Even Moses and Elijah, when they turn up alongside him, appear in “glorious splendor” (v 30), caught up in the reflected glory of Jesus. You couldn’t look at Jesus because of the brightness of the light, and yet you couldn’t bring yourself to turn away because he was so dazzlingly captivating.[1]
Matthew tells us, “His face shone like the sun” (Matthew 17:2). Imagine all the heat and light of the sun squeezed into a human body. Except it wasn’t the power of the sun that Jesus held in his body. It was something far greater and more intense: it was deity itself. All the fullness of God was concentrated down into one human body—the infinite held by the finite, the invisible made visible in the flesh and bones of Jesus.
The transfiguration has some parallels with an experience Moses had when he asked to see God’s glory. In response, God promised to reveal his glory by proclaiming his name. But he added, “You cannot see my face, for no one may see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). God came to Moses in a cloud on a mountain—just as he does at the transfiguration of Jesus (34:4-5; Luke 9:28-34). God hid Moses in a cleft in the rock and passed by, proclaiming his name (Exodus 34:5-7). As a result, the face of Moses was radiant (v 29)—just as the face of Jesus became radiant.
But what Moses was unable to see on Mount Sinai, he saw for the first time at the transfiguration. Moses couldn’t see the face of God until he saw the face of Jesus. Only in Jesus is God truly revealed to humanity. “The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us,” says John 1:14. “We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Jesus himself is the light; he is the glory; he is God. This glory is what we get when we get Christ. Being united to Christ comes with all sorts of benefits. But first and foremost, what we get is Christ himself.
NONE BUT CHRIST
Imagine interviewing a bride as she readies herself to walk down the aisle. She’s just stepped from the car outside the church. Her mother is fussing over her dress, shaking out the folds. And you ask her, “Why are you getting married?” I guess she could say, “I’ve come for his money, for his big house, for his reputation.” Or she might say, “I want a big party, a lovely dress and a bouquet of flowers—I want to be a princess for a day.” Those would be disappointing replies! I hope she would answer, “Obviously, I’ve come to marry my sweetheart. I want us to be bound together in marriage. I want him.”
Now imagine interviewing a Christian as she prepares to get baptized or be confirmed. You ask her, “Why are you getting baptized?” or “Why have you decided to follow Jesus?” I guess she might say, “I want to get to heaven. I don’t want to face God’s judgement. I want to be forgiven.” Those would be excellent answers. They’re certainly true. But there is a better and bigger answer: “I want Jesus.”
A Christian is like a bride who marries for love. There are so many wonderful blessings that come with being a Christian: forgiveness, peace, hope, security, purpose, identity. But best of all we get Jesus himself, and in Jesus we share the life and love of the triune God. We get to see God in Christ, bright as a flash of lightning, glorious in his splendor, his face shining like the sun—and he is radiant.
Except that was then. What about now? We don’t get to see the glory of Jesus in the way the disciples did on the mountain of transfiguration. At least, not yet. There’s no lightning flash for us. There’s no glory to dazzle our eyes. But we do get Jesus. We’re united to Jesus by faith, and Jesus is present with us through his Spirit. And we see his glory in his gospel. “The light of the gospel,” says Paul, “displays the glory of Christ” (2 Corinthians 4:4). As a result, we see “the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ” (v 6). Just as God spoke at creation and light shone in the darkness (Genesis 1:3), so God speaks through the gospel to make “his light shine in our hearts” (2 Corinthians 4:6). Just as the face of Jesus shone before the eyes of the disciples, so the glory of Jesus shines in our hearts by faith as we read about him in the Bible or hear it preached. And so we cry with Philip Henry, “None but Christ. None but Christ, to justify, sanctify, rule, save me. None but Christ, to be my Prophet, my Priest, my King.”[2]
This article is adapted from Enjoying Jesus: Experience the Presence and Kindness of the Son of God in Everyday Life by Tim Chester. In the book, Tim explores how Jesus acted and interacted with people in Luke’s Gospel and how, through his Spirit, we can experience the joy of Jesus’ presence and companionship in our day-to-day lives. Tim is a senior faculty member of Crosslands Training and the author of over 40 books.
[1] For more on the significance of the transfiguration see Tim Chester, Our Radiant Redeemer: Lent Devotions on the Transfiguration of Jesus (The Good Book Company, 2024).
[2] Philip Henry, Christ All in All (Reiner Publications, 1970), p 124.
Tim Chester is a senior faculty member of Crosslands Training and has written over 40 books. He has a PhD in theology and PGDip in history along with 25 years' experience of pastoral ministry. He is married with two grown-up daughters and lives in rural Derbyshire, where he is part of a church plant.
Comments