Note: our church hosted several Japanese students in this service. The sermon uses several events from Japanese history to help explain the Christian faith.

Text: Exodus 34:29-35: 29   When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30 Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, and behold, the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid to come near him. 31 But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses talked with them. 32 Afterward all the people of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the LORD had spoken with him in Mount Sinai. 33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. 34 Whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. And when he came out and told the people of Israel what he was commanded, 35 the people of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face was shining. And Moses would put the veil over his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

Luke 9:28-36: 28   Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33 And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. 34 As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” 36 And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen.

Introduction

On 15 August 1945, the nation of Japan experienced a unique, momentous event in its history. For the first time ever, the Japanese people throughout the nation heard the voice of the Showa Emperor, known to Americans as Hirohito. Even though his voice was carried on radio, the subjects of the Showa Emperor knew it was he who spoke by the dialect he used. In this address, the Showa Emperor announced his decision to end World War II by surrendering to Allied forces. It is said that his decision to do so saved hundreds of thousands of Japanese and American lives that an invasion would have cost.

It is difficult for Americans to understand how important this radio address appeared to the Japanese. According to tradition, the emperor was considered divine, a descendant of the Japanese sun goddess Amaterasu. For the divine emperor to speak to his subjects was unthinkable. However, only the emperor held the authority to order the Japanese to accept surrender and to cooperate with the American forces who occupied Japan after the war. The success of the Showa Emperor’s words is still shown today in the friendship our nations have enjoyed for over 60 years.

Throughout their history, the people who worshiped the God of Jews and Christians have believed that our God has spoken to us through holy men; men He chose to write the collection of books we know as the Bible. God first used Moses to write the first books of the Bible, including the passage I read about Moses himself. We believe in a God who cares enough about humanity to create us; to give us the abilities to reason and to love other people; and to tell us what He expects of us in our lives. Unfortunately, the Bible tells us that the first two people He created, Adam and Eve, did not do as He expected. Adam and Eve’s disobedience brought all the wrong we see in the world today, including sickness, pain, and death.

However, Christians also believe that our God loved us so much that His Son, Jesus, came into the world as a human and lived as a Jew. Jesus chose men who would follow Him and taught them more about God and about His love for us. As Jews, these men did not always recognize Jesus as God. In the last passage I read today, the followers Peter, James, and John saw Jesus as He appeared in heaven before He came to earth. This passage tells us more than of Jesus’ appearance; it also tells us the kind of God Christians serve, and how much He cares about every person in the world.

Sermon

The events Moses recorded in the book of Exodus all occurred thousands of years ago, between the years of 1446 and 1406 B.C. Before this time, the Jews had suffered through slavery at the hands of Egypt. After a series of great events, the Jews were allowed to leave Egypt and travel to their homeland in the modern nation of Israel. When the Jews left Egypt, they were merely a group of tribes with no real structure or government. Moses had led them from Egypt, but he knew the Jews could not survive as a nation without laws.

The Bible tells us that even further back, in the year 2091 B.C., the Jewish God had chosen a man named Abraham to be the ancestor of a group of people that He would use to show the world how much He loved everyone. God had promised this land to Abraham and to his descendants. Now, Abraham’s descendants were returning to the land God had promised them.

In the passage today, Moses had gone to the top of a mountain named Sinai and there met with God. The Jewish and Christian God gave Moses a set of laws that would help Moses govern the people and help the people become a nation after Moses’ death. However, while Moses stood before the face of God, the glory of God — that is, the light of God’s beauty — caused Moses’ face to shine. When Moses returned to the people, they were frightened by Moses’ glowing face. The glow in Moses’ face showed the people that he had not simply made up what he told them; he had met with God and received the words from God Himself.

The events in the book of Luke occurred in the year 33 A.D. Again, this is a long time ago (during the time of Japanese history we know as the Yayoi period, during the reign of the Suinin Emperor). At this time, a Jew named Jesus had spent around 3 years traveling around the land of modern Israel, teaching the people about God. However, Jesus also did other things that no other teacher had ever done: He healed sick people, and He even brought dead people back to life! Furthermore, He taught people that God expected more than simple obedience to the Law. God expected people to obey because they loved Him and loved each other. If people loved God, they would care for other people because they knew God had created them and loved them, too.

Then, Jesus decided to go to the city of Jerusalem. He took His followers with Him. At one point on the trip, Jesus took 3 of His Apostles, Peter, James, and John, on a mountain to pray. Many people in the world believe that mountains are good places to pray!

While Jesus was there praying, Peter, James, and John decided to sleep. They awoke to an amazing sight: Jesus was talking with 2 men, one of whom was Moses, about whom we read in Exodus! Moses had been dead for over 1,400 years, and Elijah had been dead nearly 900 years! Yet, they were talking to Jesus!

Peter thought he had a good idea: “Let’s build temples here to worship these 3!” However, Peter had forgotten that although Moses and Elijah were important people, they were only men and could not be worshiped. As men, they had done wrong in their lives as everyone does. We must not worship men who do wrong — any wrong. The Jewish and Christian God is perfect; He alone is worth our worship. A voice from heaven told Peter, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to Him!”

Peter, James, and John fell to the ground in fear. When they looked up again, only Jesus was present, and He looked normal again.

What does this story tell us about God, and what does this story tell us about Jesus?

First, this story tells us that Jesus is truly God’s Son. In Moses’ time, Moses’ face glowed because He was in the presence of God. In this story, Jesus Himself glowed as God had glowed over 1,400 years before. We see no other time when anyone displayed the glory of God. John would later write that Jesus “became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father.”

Secondly, this causes us to ask a very important question: If Jesus is God, why did He come from heaven to live here, on earth? Many cultures believe in a wonderful heaven where people go when they die. These cultures believe heaven is a perfect place: It is not cold (as it has been here this week!), it does not rain, and it is very beautiful. Christians, too, believe in a perfect heaven. Why would Jesus leave this perfect place to live on earth?

Everyone does wrong things, even if we do them by accident. However, wrong is wrong. It would be easy for us to say, “God does not understand how easy it is to do wrong; He has never lived like me.” The life of Jesus tells us that God, through His Son Jesus, came to earth and lived as we do — yet He did no wrong. We cannot say that God has set a standard too high for us to reach. Instead, we must confess we have not met His standard. If we have not met His standard, we cannot expect God to take us to heaven when we die.

However, this story also tells us that God is not a being that does not care about us. He wants to help us live as He created us to live in this life, and He wants to take us to heaven when we die. Unfortunately, doing wrong makes us guilty, and the guilty must always pay the price. In our cultures, the wrong usually pay the price through time in jail. But what if someone else paid the price for our guilt? Would God accept that payment for us?

The Bible tells us that Jesus did exactly that. When He arrived in Jerusalem, Jesus was executed by the Romans. That was nothing new; the Romans executed lots of people in their history. But Jesus did something new: 3 days after His death, Jesus rose again from the grave! He was seen by over 500 people after He came back to life. Jesus then returned to heaven, where, the Bible says, He constantly asks God to forgive everyone who believes that He rose from the dead and will accept Him as their standard in life. Another follower of Jesus, a man named Paul, wrote, “if you confess with your mouth Jesus as lord” — meaning you live as Jesus wants us to live by loving other people and by loving God — “and believe in your heart God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” All people who do as Paul said find themselves saved from having to pay for the wrong they have done in their lives, because Jesus forgives them for doing the wrong things to other people.

Christians also believe Jesus does something else. Jesus sends the Spirit of God to live in the hearts of everyone who believes in Him. The Spirit helps us to love other people and to do good things in our lives. Everyone does good things at times, but the Spirit helps us to do things that point other people to the forgiveness they can have for their wrongs. Everyone who believes in Jesus receives His Spirit. Everyone who has His Spirit becomes what the Bible calls “born again;” as we are born physically from our mothers; receiving Jesus’ Spirit means we are born spiritually. To help us live and grow in His Spirit, Jesus leads us to join other Christians in the Church. The Church helps us learn more about God and helps us to live as He wants us to live in this life.

Then, after we die, we are promised that Jesus will take us to heaven, the perfect place He left to die for our wrongs. There, we will live with Him; we will never leave the One who loved us so much He died to pay the price for our wrongs. We will look in His face and see the love that brought Him here for us.

Many cultures have stories about divine people, but in those stories, the people die, are buried, and remain in their graves. Christianity tells the story of a divine Person who died for our wrongs, was buried, and rose again. This Person continues to speak to us through the stories of the Bible and through His Spirit. Everyone who listens to Jesus, asks Him to forgive their wrongs, and believes He has been raised from the dead will one day see Him and live with Him forever.