Transfiguration Sunday
February 26, 2006
Scripture Readings: Revelation 22:10-17,20; Matthew 24:35-44
Hymns: 549; 606; 13; 531

Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. The word of God taken for our instruction in righteousness this morning is found recorded in Psalm 139:1-12, 23-24:

For the Chief Musician. A Psalm of David.

Theme: Take refuge in your all-powerful God!
- In His omniscience ever protecting us
- In His omnipresence ever with us

In the name of the one and only True God, who has all power in heaven and on earth; Dear Fellow Redeemed,

In 1889, the newly formed city of Johnstown, PA suffered a great tragedy. A dam upriver from the city broke during heavy rains, and the resulting flood devastated the city. During the flood surge a railroad car was pushed into the surge of rising water with a woman trapped inside. There were people nearby, but there was nothing that they could do to save her. No doubt the woman was terrified, but she prayed and then began singing a familiar hymn. She took refuge in the fact that she knew her God was with her - even when no one else could.

Have you ever been in a situation similar to that woman in Johnstown, PA? No doubt we have all had to face times in our lives when we were afraid or even terrified. When we face situations like that, this Psalm reminds us to take refuge in our All-powerful God. No matter what circumstances we might face in life, God is always aware of what we are going through, and He is always with us. May the Holy Spirit bless our study. Amen.

When we speak about the attributes of God, we often refer to three omni’s. The word omni comes from the Latin word omnis which means “all” or “every.” The first of the three omni words we use to describe God is omnipotent meaning “all-powerful.” We saw such a description of God in our responsive reading for this morning. With David we declared the power of God in designing the human body, in creating it, and in giving it life. Certainly the power of God should be of great comfort to the Christian. Being reminded of the omnipotence of God comforts us because it helps us realize that there is nothing that we will face in this life that God does not have power over.

The apostle Paul was constantly dealing with trials in his life. Yet he took great comfort in God’s power over the situations he faced in his life. He also encourages us to take comfort and refuge in the almighty power of our God, saying, “If God is for us, who can be against us? ... Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? ... Yet in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death nor life, nor angels nor principalities nor powers, nor things present nor things to come, nor height nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:31,35,37-39).

Do we have troubles? Do we face difficult and trying times in our lives? Most certainly! At times do they threaten to drive us to despair? They sure do! But in those verses Paul reminds us that our strength to face those situations comes from the Lord. Alone, the enemies that we face in this life would win every time - we would have no hope of survival. But Paul reminds us that there is absolutely nothing that is more powerful than our God. Taking refuge in our All-powerful God and in Jesus Christ is the only hope we have.

In the verses of Psalm 139, David also directs us to see the power of our God and to take refuge in it. Earlier I mentioned the omnipotence of God that David spoke of in our responsive reading. In the verses of our sermon text David mentions two other omni’s. God’s power is also demonstrated in His omniscience. The word omniscience literally means “all knowledge” and refers to the fact that God knows all things. Look again at how God’s omniscience is described in the first four verses of our text: “O LORD, You have searched me and known me. You know my sitting down and my rising up; You understand my thought afar off. You comprehend my path and my lying down, And are acquainted with all my ways. For there is not a word on my tongue, But behold, O LORD, You know it altogether.”

I would like you to think for a moment of the one person you know better than anyone else. When you think of this person, ask yourself if that person could describe you using the words we just read. Often the person that is closest to us is our spouse. After spending years together, spouses often begin to think like one another. They will often know what the other person is thinking just by seeing a certain facial expression. They know what the other person is going to say even before it is said. But no matter how well someone knows you, they will never know you as well as God knows you.

God knows our every action of every minute of the day and night. He knows every word that we shout, He knows every syllable that we whisper, and He even knows every thought that we think! God knows everything about us. He knows everything about our past, and He even knows our future.

God’s omniscience serves us in two ways. First, it serves as a warning to us when we are tempted into sin. One of the most dangerous aspects of sin is the thought that we can do it and get away with it. There are many things that we won’t do just because we think people may find out we have done it. But that same sin becomes much more tempting if we are sure that no one will know we did it. That doesn’t make it right, but it does make it that more tempting. While we may be able to hide our sin from others here on earth, we are reminded that we can’t hide anything from God. He knows every dark deed we have ever done. He knows our sinful heart even better than we do. So instead of thinking that we can hide our sin from God, we should instead confess our sins before God, remove ourselves from the temptations which cause us to continue in those sins, and turn to God in repentance, pleading for His forgiveness.

While serving as a warning of our sin and our need for God’s forgiveness, the omniscience of God should also serve as a comfort for the repentant child of God. Since God knows everything about us, we can also take refuge in the knowledge that God can and will sustain us during difficult times. David proclaims: “You have hedged me behind and before, And laid Your hand upon me.”

Our omniscient God protects us by building a fortification around us. He protects us physically by sending His angels to guard and watch over us, and to protect us from danger (Psalm 91:11-12). He also protects us spiritually through His Word which guides and directs us, pointing out the sin and temptation which surrounds us in this life, and leading us along the path of righteousness (Psalm 119:105-112).

Have you ever received a gift, opened it, and when you realized what it was exclaimed, “I can’t believe it!”? Sometimes we have an expectation of what we might receive, and if it isn’t what we expected we are disappointed, but if it is more than we find it too good to believe. This blessing of God’s protection is something that we often take for granted. Then when God demonstrates His omniscient protection, we are unimpressed. Like David we should remember that God’s omniscient providence which is ever protecting us is something that we should be continually thankful for. As with that unexpected gift we should exclaim, “Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; It is high, I cannot attain it.”

Remember the woman I mentioned earlier who was trapped in the railroad car as the flood waters were rising? I’m sure that she felt very alone on that day, even though there were many people nearby. There have probably been many times where you have also felt alone, and like no one could help. David goes on to remind us that God doesn’t just know everything about us and our lives, but He is also constantly present with us in our lives.

“Where can I go from Your Spirit? Or where can I flee from Your presence? If I ascend into heaven, You are there; If I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.” One comment on verse eight might be helpful. The NKJV has, “if I make my bed in hell, behold, You are there.” The word translated "hell" in that verse is the word "Sheol" in the Hebrew. Many translations prefer to give us that word instead of trying to translate it at all. But the Hebrew word "Sheol" simply refers to the grave. So in this verse, the contrast is not between heaven and hell, but rather between the heights of space and the depths of the earth. That parallel is brought out more clearly when we look at the following verse which says, “If I take the wings of the morning, And dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea, Even there Your hand shall lead me, And Your right hand shall hold me.”

The point is that wherever we might be, God is right there with us. We might think of the coal miners that died in the coal mining accident a few months back. There they were in the depths of the earth, with no one there to help them. They may have felt alone, but even there God was with them. No matter how dire our situation may seem to us, we can be confident that God is right there with us.

We need to realize that this doesn’t mean that God won’t let anything bad happen to us. Bad things have happened to us in the past, and they will surely continue to happen in the future. Even though God was in that coal mine, those miners still died. God was with the woman in the railroad car in Johnstown, PA, but she still died in that flood.

So what kind of refuge is that we might ask? David continues, “If I say, ‘Surely the darkness shall fall on me,’ Even the night shall be light about me; Indeed, the darkness shall not hide from You, But the night shines as the day; The darkness and the light are both alike to You.” In these verses David is describing physical death. As the lights of this life fade out into physical darkness, we are reminded of what is on the other side. “Even the night shall be light about me” David declares. The darkness of physical death is not darkness for God. In heaven “the night shines as the day.” God knows when our time has come to leave this earth. And when that time comes for you, God will be there. He doesn’t promise us a life of continual bliss here on this earth, but through His Son Jesus, He does promise us a life of eternal peace in the light of heaven. Through life and through death our God is with us.

I want to back up to the apostle Paul once more. In that same section from Romans eight which I mentioned earlier, Paul also reminds us about what it is that makes our eternal future so certain. He writes, “If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things? Who shall bring a charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is he who condemns? It is Christ who died, and furthermore is also risen, who is even at the right hand of God, who also makes intercession for us.” (Romans 8:31-34). Because of the work of our Savior we have nothing to fear.

In the closing verses of the Psalm, David offers a prayer for God’s continual blessings. “Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.” We have an all powerful God who in His omniscience is ever protecting us physically and spiritually. We have an all powerful God who in His omnipresence is ever with us, even in the darkest times of our life. Let us take refuge in our All powerful God who knows our hearts and all our anxieties. Let us take refuge in His Son, Jesus, who has overcome our wickedness with His righteousness, and who leads us in the way everlasting. Amen.

And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus. Amen.

Pastor Nathanael Mayhew