“The Just Shall Live By Faith”

New King James Version                          Written by: David Hicks

 

Romans 1:17 “ For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written, "The just shall live by faith."

Galatians 3:11 “But that no one is justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for "the just shall live by faith."

Hebrews 10:38 “Now the just shall live by faith; But if anyone draws back, My soul has no pleasure in him."

“Articles of Faith"

An Orderly Account Of The Greatest Story Ever Told

(A Study in Luke)

Chapter 9:23-29:

In our last lesson, we have the disciples of the Lord being asked who they thought He was. After Peter's response, He strictly warned them not to tell anyone of this recognition. He would then divulge to them His coming suffering, death, and resurrection. Peter, often being the brashest of the group, expressed what they were probably all thinking, that it should not be as the Lord is describing. The Lord would rebuke Peter and this brings us to the beginning of this lesson. After the rebuke of Peter (Matthew 16:23), the Lord will take this moment to teach His disciples concerning true discipleship.

Text #1:

Luke 9:23-27 “Then He said to them all, “If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow Me. 24 For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will save it. 25 For what profit is it to a man if he gains the whole world, and is himself destroyed or lost? 26 For whoever is ashamed of Me and My words, of him the Son of Man will be ashamed when He comes in His own glory, and in His Father's, and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God .”

Also found in: Matthew 16:24-27; Mark 8:34-38.

Desires to Come After Me: This is spoken to His disciples, those who have willfully chosen to follow after Him. This first verse can only be a reference to the kind of death He would suffer in completing the work the Father has sent Him to do. Jesus has just told them concerning His suffering and death and here He alludes to the kind of death it would be. If just the mention of His death was upsetting to His disciples, this teaching must have really been difficult for them.

The Lord is simply saying that if He is going to bear the full measure of the cross and all that form of capital punishment conceived in their minds, they should then simply follow Him in pure obedience to His teaching.

Notice what the Apostles of Christ would write to Christians concerning this very concept:

Romans 8:35-37 “Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 As it is written:
“For Your sake we are killed all day long; We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.” (Psalms 44:22)
37 Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.”

Ephesians 4:1 “I, therefore, the prisoner of the Lord, beseech you to walk worthy of the calling with which you were called,”

Philippians 1:27 “Only let your conduct be worthy of the gospel of Christ, so that whether I come and see you or am absent, I may hear of your affairs, that you stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel,”

Whoever Desires: Here the Lord teaches that all self-seeking is self-losing! Whoever makes his own life the center or chief object of his endeavors, truly fails in this life. To add meaning to the teaching, He plays upon the two meanings of life; one being the temporal and the other the eternal duration. His disciples were going to have to ignore much of their own strong cravings of their earthly nature; even their desire to keep Him with them.

What Profit: Peter and the rest of the disciples had been thinking of a worldly Messianic kingdom, with all the physical benefits that would bring. Here the Lord defuses this thought process by pointing out that gaining the entire world would cost them their souls (which would include their idea of the kingdom). The same could be said of those who teach of a coming earthly kingdom yet established. Note what the Apostle Paul said to Christians concerning their existence in the kingdom already in existence:

Colossians 1:13 “He has delivered us from the power of darkness and conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love,”

Philippians 3:20 “For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ,”

Ashamed of Me and My Words: This comes to the disciples' right after Peter was ashamed of the words of the Lord concerning His suffering, death, and resurrection. They were to take His words as absolute regardless of the extent they understood or agreed with them for His sake. This is an illustration of the same attitude necessary to become a disciple of Christ to this day!

See the Kingdom of God: This statement dates without any confusion that the kingdom was to come within the lifetimes of those standing with the Lord at this time. We know that these disciples would be those by which the doors of the kingdom of heaven would be opened through the Gospel of Christ. In this short section of teaching, the Lord would illustrate that the kingdom of God was not going to be a physical kingdom and that it was going to be seen by those standing about Him now. In addition, only those willing to forsake their own desires and put their trust in His words would find the grace of the Savior when He is glorified by the Father.

We now shift gears to eight days after this section of teaching (starting at 9:1).

One hundred and twenty miles north of the burning heat of the mouth of the Dead Sea , we find Mt. Hermon 's year round snow covered peaks. Here we find the Lord going up to a spur of this mountain, near Caesarea Philippi.

Text #2:

Luke 9:28 “Now it came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray.”

There is nothing ever mentioned in scripture or even insinuated that explains why the Lord often allowed these three to be privy to special circumstances (see also: 8:51). Rather than try to interject an assumption or theory, I prefer to trust that the Lord had His reasons for taking these three with Him.

It was a habit of the Lord to go often out and away from the multitudes to pray and these disciples probably only thought this to be the case here.

Text #3:

Luke 9:29 “As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening.

Transfiguration: The term transfiguration is used to describe this event and is used in Matthew's and Mark's account of this event (see: Matthew 17:1-13; Mark 9:2-13). The term comes from the Greek word, ‘ Metamorphoo ' and means, “to change into another form”. Here Luke describes it as, “the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening” .

Matthew's account would describe it this way, “His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light” (Matthew 17:2).

Mark's account would describe it this way, “His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.” (Mark 9:3).

So, what was the significance of this change in appearance or form? Peter would answer this question for us in his own words as an eye witness of this event. He would use this occasion to demonstrate to Christians that neither he nor any of the other Apostles had to make up clever stories or cunningly devised fables. All they had to do was to testify of that which they were eye witnesses. He would then use this account to demonstrate the evidentiary testimony of God concerning His Son and the word, note:

2 Peter 1:16-18 “For we did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. 17 For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” 18 And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.”

Here, Peter tells us that the change in the form of the Lord was for the sole purpose of displaying His majesty to these who were privileged to witness it. The term majesty is here used to describe the greatness and dignity of the Lord. The Hebrew writer would describe that Jesus at the time of the writing of the letter had received permanently, the majesty reserved for Him as the Son of God, note:

Hebrews 1:3 “who being the brightness of His glory and the express image of His person, and upholding all things by the word of His power, when He had by Himself purged our sins, sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high”

Peter would likewise express the extent of this majesty when he preached the first Gospel sermon recorded in the book of Acts, note:

Acts 2:36 “Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made this Jesus, whom you crucified, both Lord and Christ.”

The Lord is being transfigured in the presence of these witnesses to display for them a view of the majesty He would attain after the events He taught them in verses 21-22.

We will have to continue this lesson later, as there are going to be many other things we want to discuss in this text.