Luke 9:28-36
Three Sets of Feet
In our study last week, we noted the witnesses that gave testimony
concerning Jesus. Jesus sought out testimony from three:
1. \\#Luke 9:18-19\\ Jesus asked what the world thought of Him.
The answer came back, "The world thinks you are a great
prophet.
2. \\#Luke 9:20\\ Jesus asked what the disciples thought of Him.
Peter answered, "You are the Christ."
3. \\#Matt 16:17\\ Jesus told the disciples what God thought of
Him when He said, "Flesh and blood has not revealed it unto
thee, but my Father which is in heaven."
However, the Father had more testimony to offer. Instead of His
testimony being given by another, the Father wanted to state who
Jesus was in person, and that even happened about a week later.
We noted last week that the testimony was shared in Caesarea
Philippi, an area just north of Israel. We do not know exactly where
Jesus was for this event. The Bible simply tells us that Jesus took
the disciples into a mountain. Most likely, Jesus has moved back
into Israel by this time.
Let’s consider this passage by looking at the feet of those who stood
on this mountain.
I. Feet of Clay
A. The Bible says that Jesus sorted out of the Twelve three to go
up this mountain with Him.
1. They were Peter, James, and John.
2. We are not told why Jesus selected these three over the
others to go, but He did not several occasions (here,
for the resurrection of Jairus’ daughter, and at
Gethsemane \\#Mark 14:32-33\\.
3. Perhaps it was because of the roles they would play in the
kingdom of God.
a. Peter had the "keys to the kingdom" and opened the
gospel door to the Gentiles in Acts 10.
b. James was the first Apostle to be martyred in Acts 12.
c. John will be the last Apostle to die after many years
of service.
B. For whatever reason, Jesus selected them to go up the mountain
with Him to pray. Notice the results.
Luke 9:28 …he took Peter and John and James,
and went up into a mountain to pray.
1. The feet of clay failed to pray for long.
a. On this night, the feet of clay failed—as it so
commonly does—and Jesus was left alone to pray.
Luke 9:29 And as HE prayed….
(1) The Bible does not say as THEY prayed.
(2) It says as HE prayed.
(3) What happened to THEM?
Luke 9:32 But Peter and they that were with
him were heavy with sleep….
b. Jesus wanted the disciples to pray, perhaps for Him.
(1) Beginning at Caesarea, Jesus began to tell the
disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and die.
\\#Luke 9:22\\
(2) \\#Luke 9:51\\ Jesus had steadfastly set His face
to go to Jerusalem to die.
(3) It is not beyond the realm of possibility to
think Jesus wanted the disciples to pray for Him
and the cross to which He was headed.
c. But, the feet of clay grew weak, tired, perhaps even
bored with praying and went to sleep.
(1) Being sleepy is not a sin, but failing is a
characteristic of the sinful.
(2) Coming up short and missing the mark are common
traits of our sinful condition.
d. Jesus was still training His disciples.
(1) As I have mentioned, this is the discipleship
chapter.
(2) More responsibilities were being placed on the
disciples in this chapter than ever before.
(a) \\#1-12\\ Jesus sent the disciples forth to
preach—without Him.
(b) \\#1-13\\ Jesus charged the disciples with
the responsibility of feeding the
multitude.
(c) Now Jesus called on the disciples to at
least pray WITH Him if not FOR Him.
(3) To be a disciple means we must discipline our
flesh, train ourselves to do the things that our
Lord might call upon us to do.
(a) Introverts must train themselves to speak.
(b) The proud must learn humility.
(c) The fleshly must learn to hear, follow and
rely on the spiritual.
(d) All must learn to pray.
(e) All must learn to deny the flesh.
(f) All must grow to tell our flesh what it will
do instead of allowing the flesh to tell us
what we will do.
2. The feet of clay failed to recognize the Christ.
a. This event is directly tied to the questions asked by
Jesus at Caesarea Philippi.
(1) Matthew, Mark, and Luke all record them one after
the other.
(2) All three record Jesus’ promise of seeing God’s
glory.
Luke 9:27 But I tell you of a truth, there be
some standing here, which shall not taste of
death, till they see the kingdom of God.
(3) All three gospel writers count the number of days
between the events. (Luke counts it as 8 days
because he counted the day the promise was made
and the day it was fulfilled while Matthew and
Mark counted only the days in between as 6.)
b. There is still One, the Father, who had not yet
completed His testimony as to who Jesus was.
c. But even AFTER the Father has given a reasonable
testimony, the disciples still not understand who
Jesus was.
Luke 9:33 And it came to pass, as they departed
from him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is
good for us to be here: and let us make three
tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses,
and one for Elias: not knowing what he said.
(1) Notice the text, "not knowing what he said."
(2) That phrase indicates Peter did something wrong
and did not even know it.
(3) What did he do wrong?
(4) He elevated Moses and Elijah to the same position
as Jesus.
(5) Let’s build THREE tabernacles or churches or
shrines.
(6) No! God said. There was only One who was worthy
of that kind of honor and it was God’s Only
Son!
Luke 9:35 And there came a voice out of the
cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.
d. I think it is interesting that we do not know the
mountain on which this event occurred.
(1) Why?
(2) Because some man would think just like Peter and
build some shrine not only to Jesus but to
Moses and Elijah!
(3) This is just what feet of clay does.
(4) It fails to recognize who Jesus really is!
II. Feet of Glory
A. Several unusual things happened that evening on this mountain.
1. God audibly spoke to men.
2. Jesus physically revealed who He was.
3. God allowed those in glory to visit with Jesus.
Luke 9:30 And, behold, there talked with him two
men, which were Moses and Elias:
31 Who appeared in GLORY….
4. Two men who were no longer in mere flesh but were adorned
with glory appeared on this earth.
a. There is no doubt that Moses had died for the
Scripture tells us so.
Jos 1:2 Moses my servant is dead….
b. Elijah was taken off the earth alive in a whirlwind.
2Ki 2:11 And it came to pass, as they still went
on, and talked, that, behold, there appeared a
chariot of fire, and horses of fire, and parted
them both asunder; and Elijah went up by a
whirlwind into heaven.
(1) The Bible never states that Elijah died.
(2) If he had not then something glorious and
supernatural would had to have happened to him.
c. Either way, these two were adorned in God’s glory.
B. How unusual is this?
1. God does not just allow the departed to roam this earth.
2. The dead have boundaries as to where they abide.
2Co 5:8 We are confident, I say, and willing
rather to be absent from the body, and to be
present with the Lord.
Lu 16:26 And beside all this, between us and
you there is a great gulf fixed: so that they
which would pass from hence to you cannot;
neither can they pass to us, that would come
from thence.
Job 7:9 As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth
away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall
come up no more.
10 He shall return no more to his house, neither
shall his place know him any more.
C. But on this day, God sent two who had departed to return to
the earth.
1. For Moses, it must have been a grand day for he finally
got to enter the Promised Land.
2. Elijah may have stood on a spot he had stood on hundreds
of years before.
3. Why did God sent them? To testify to whom Jesus was!
D. It is worth noting:
1. The dead were still living.
2. The dead had some form of body. They have not yet
received their eternal, resurrected body but they had
some form.
3. The dead spoke with Jesus. They had knowledge, intellect,
the ability to communicate.
4. The dead were recognizable. They still had their
identities.
E. It is also worth noting that on this night, when feet of clay
failed to abide with Jesus, God sent the feet of glory to do
so.
1. They speak to Jesus about His death.
Luke 9:31 Who appeared in glory, and spake of
his decease which he should accomplish at
Jerusalem.
2. Human flesh may have failed Jesus but God did not.
3. Since the disciples would not pray with Jesus, God sent
others to comfort and strengthen Him.
III. Feet of God
A. This event was to part of God’s testimony to the question,
Who is Jesus?"
B. Jesus is God.
1. On that night, the veil of flesh thinned and the glory
of the One flesh covered came out.
2. Jesus was not just a man.
3. He was and is the eternal God
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