Jesus both Old Testament and New?

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A man with his new bird do is out for the hunt.  After shooting his first duck, it fell in the lake.  His dog ran to the water’s edge then gently walking out on the water, picked up the duck, and brought it to his master. Stunned the man didn't know what to think.  So he shot another duck and again the dog did exactly the same thing!  No one will ever believer this, he though. So the next day he decided to invite a neighbor to come and see his new dog fetch a downed bird. The dog repeated his miracle for the friend to see but he didn’t say anything.  So the man shot another duck and the miracle happened again. We he could no longer contain himself, he asked his friend.  Didn’t you notice something strange about my dog. Oh yes of course said the friend.  Your dog doesn’t know how to swim. 

Mar 3, 2019    Luke 9:28–36,  Psalm 37  vu page 763   

Is there a Jesus of the Old Testament?  Many church folks have struggled with this idea.  Well the gospel of John refers to an entity called “The Word” that was there in the beginning and then tells us that the word became flesh.  Paul and the other Apostles have a name for the Jesus resurrected they call him “The Christ”.   Christ you see was not Jesus’ last name but a name used by them to describe the entity that always existed.  We first hear about this entity in the book of Genesis 1: 26.  here is what it says:  “Let us make humans in our image”   Colossians 1: 15-18 gives us a description of this eternal entity called “The Christ”.  This reading is called “The Supremacy of the Son of God”   ¹⁵ The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. ¹⁷ He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. ¹⁸ And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy.  Here we need to remember, to the early followers of the Apostles, this idea of an eternal Jesus dying on a cross and then rising from the dead just did make any sense to them.  In fact when Jesus tries to tell them He is going to experience death on the cross they don’t understand what he is talking about let alone believe it.   In their minds, Jesus was to over through the Roman authority and set up a new Kingdom that would rule over the people eternally with peace, justice and love.   So for us who base our faith upon an eternal resurrection story, a story that never ends, these verses from Colossians are very important for us to understand.  In fact they speak of The Christ that was there in the beginning.  Genesis 1: 26   “Let us make humans in our image”.    The writer of Colossians describes a Jesus who was there from the very beginning.  He is ruler over all creation, He is Lord of lords and King of kings.  Everything that was made, was made for and through Him.  According to Colossians the realm of Christ’s reign covers everything that happens in heaven and on the earth.  No one, not even those who deny Christs existence can be free of His rule or be outside His sphere of love and authority for “The Christ” is as Paul states in Romans 14: 9, “Both Lord of the Living and of the Dead.”  So I ask you to hold onto those thoughts as we reflect upon the gospel and this “MIRACULOUS” transfiguration story. 

The first question that always seems to crop us is: is this just a story or is it a fact?  This is something only the individual Christian can judge for themselves after doing personal reflection of all scriptures involved.   We should always be reading the scriptures not necessarily for fact but for signs of hope, and revelation, something we can take home personally.  A key to comprehending this story’s significance is found in Mark 9:1.  Jesus spoke these words 8 days before these three men are led up the mountain to experience this event.  And I quote:   And He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.”    I believe His prophetic words we meant for three of His followers, disciples Peter, James and John, why because: shortly after saying this, Jesus takes Peter, James and John up to a mountain top.  There, Jesus is somehow transfigured.   They no longer see Jesus as He was but as a shining white light, so bright it transforms Him into something greater, something too difficult for their minds to comprehend.    This transformation only lasts for a moment, but in that moment it seems to have transported these three men to another place and time.  It appears to resemble the near death experience we often hear reported by many.  They experience being present to a bright shining image, with a voice and the voice almost always that tells them to return to their bodies. They also report an overwhelming feeling of peace and contentment nothing like they have ever felt before. 

This place and time is visible to Peter, James and John who are still among the living, but also includes two of the most significant figures from the Old Testament who are dead, yet they are all present to this experience.   We have Peter, James and John, the living and Moses and Elijah the dead, all in the presence of a transformed Jesus, not the physical man these men went up to the mountain top with, but an entity that is “Lord of both the living and the dead.”      May I suggest to you they were all in the presents of “The Christ” the entity that we heard about in the Colossians reading, the entity that was there in the beginning with God, Genesis 1: 26?   No one knows for sure what these 5 men were getting a glimpse of, but may I suggest to you that Jesus’ prophetic words from Mark 9:1 have now become a reality.  And He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.”   

In this place both the living and the dead are able to see and speak with the transformed Jesus, “or as Paul refers to Him, “The Christ” in His glory and in His power just as He said.  This passage represents for the Christian a truth that can only be believed by faith, a faith that is overflowing with hope, and the assurance that Jesus is “Lord of both the living and the dead,” Romans 14: 9. and I quote the passage “For this very reason, Christ died and returned to life, so that he might be the Lord of both the dead and the living.”   And the congregations sang:   Amen!