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“Trust Your Eyes” (2 Peter 1:16-21)

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Series: Identity Revealed

by Pastor Nate Walther

The Festival of Transfiguration (2/15/2026)

As Peter looked back on his life now at the end, it had been tough.  Growing up with his brother Andrew on the shores of the Sea of Galilee, those were good memories.  But life never remains as simple as it was when you were a kid.  Sure, he had his brother’s company as they grew older and got into the local fishing trade, but problems came along with age: bills to pay, issues with coworkers, dying relatives … that’s life.

But then he met Jesus, and everything changed. Miracles that offered a glimpse of something far bigger: Jesus curing diseases, providing for those in need, even raising the dead – even Peter was able to walk on waters of the Sea around which he grew up, just like Jesus had!  Was this finally the one God had promised?  Yet at other times, Jesus appeared to be so human. He talked about his death as if it was inevitable.  How could the Messiah—who was supposed to rescue them from sin—succumb to sin?  But then, there was the Mount of Transfiguration, that indescribable scene! Surely this was the Son of God!!! But then, there was Jesus’ arrest, trial, and crucifixion.  For three days Peter could interpret nothing good in this mess, and all hope seemed lost.  Except… Jesus rose from the dead!  Hope was restored when Jesus appeared to Peter alive again on that first East morning!!!  Except… it had now been a generation since Jesus went back to heaven.  Since then, other Disciples had been killed for the faith, including his own brother. Peter’s life was constantly under threat also, and looked like this would take his life soon too… So what was Peter supposed to think here at the end? 

It’s the quintessential picture of faith: always ebbing and flowing, like light which grows brighter in the darkness of this world and then wanes some too. But a key thought?  Throughout all the darkness of sin, we still keep seeing that light… That’s what Peter goes back to in this letter, which effectively serves as his last will and testament, and he tells his readers the same: TRUST YOUR EYES, eyes which see Jesus.  In our sermon text, Peter makes that clear right away.  How can we be sure Jesus is the answer?  He says it’s as simple as eyewitness testimony.  Jesus was the answer for those who saw him.  And among the many things Peter must have saw in his life, it’s interesting how Jesus’ transfiguration stood out, which we are celebrating today.  Again, 17 He received honor and glory from God the Father, when the voice came to him from within the Majestic Glory, saying, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” 18 We heard this voice, which came out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.  Peter still remembered hearing the Father’s own voice and seeing Jesus in all of his glory, which would serve as a source of light for the rest of his life. 

But notice that it didn’t immediately solve everything.  In verse 19 notice how Peter talks about a lamp in a dark place, waiting until the day dawns, and a morning star rising (which only rises when it is still dark). It calls to mind the fact that there is still darkness!  Life will still be hard!  But Peter just keeps going back to this message, and he tells his listeners to do the same.  Why?  Because it is reliable.  Because it offers precisely light for those situations of darkness.  That’s because it comes from the source of all light.  Peter reminds us this comes from God, it’s not just some human interpretation of things.  In fact, in the Greek language and in the word order in which this was first written, people are actually the last thought of the last sentence of our sermon text.  Literally in verse 21, Peter wraps up this entire section by saying, “by the Holy Spirit were carried, as they spoke from God, men…”  

It’s been said before in our world, “don’t trust your lying eyes”, but ironically so.  It’s actually meant to demonstrate the opposite: when things get messy in this world – as they tend to do in politics, for example, where the phrase originates – what else are you supposed to believe other than what you can see right before you? 

So also, trust what you see. First of all, trust the darkness you see around you.  When you see death in the news, when you see pain in your body, when you see trouble in your family, when you see chaos in this world…  trust that sin is real, that it’s serious, and it needs to be fixed.  Along with it, trust that no manmade solution will do.  We’ve had thousands of years to get it right and it’s not getting better, we need something else!  Then trust the light you see in Scripture.  Trust what no man has ever come up with on his own (indeed, no other religion has ever conceived of anything like it): full forgiveness from sin & guilt that is not earned, and hope that has no business being in the room when what you see is evil. You’re at your parents’ or your friends’ or your child’s funeral, and yet this hope says you will see them again even after you die – with your own eyes in their own bodies…  Trust that there something different here, because you’ve seen everything else in this world and you realize, there is something different here.

In other words, like Peter see the morning star, even if morning itself hasn’t yet dawned.  Because despite the darkness we do see around us, we also see Christ.  He’s dawned on our hearts already, and he will dawn on our risen bodies someday when they are glorified to be like his transfigured body.  We can be sure of it because this message of Jesus is reliable.  It’s reliable in the eyewitnesses who saw his glory, then saw Jesus crucified for sin, then saw him raised to life for our justification.  It’s as reliable as any other historical event anyone saw.  Maybe it feels different when we see dark things and we haven’t seen Jesus personally, but this is based on the same eyewitness testimony that all of history is based on.  It is no fiction.  

Finally, if that’s not enough, trust what you see because it’s exactly what we need.  Look, sometimes there is just trouble in this world.  Even after the glorious sight he saw on the Mount of Transfiguration, Peter still experienced that.  Shortly after our Gospel account Peter would live through the darkest, gloomiest period of his life.  Jesus was not only arrested and killed, but Peter had a hand in betraying him.  Can you imagine the suffocating guilt Peter felt without a Savior (at least, as he thought of it).  We’ll hear all of that again soon during Lent… So could that be why Jesus wanted Peter to be one of three men to see the transfiguration?  So that he would have something, anything to hang onto and not lose his faith in the end?  So that he could provide the same meaningful testimony to others who find themselves in such hopeless darkness?

How might God be doing the same for you?  Life is just hard sometimes in a dark world, so he gives you just the right kind of light for it.  Could your family life be good because he’s got some challenges in store for you at work?  Or does he make you love what you find at church because you’ve got extended family that’s hell-bent against it?  Maybe he’s given you sickness preciously because you have a strong faith and can witness to it?…  I know, maybe you’re thinking, “Pastor, you don’t get it, that doesn’t really explain what I’m going through…” And you’re right. I don’t know.  As our sermon text reminded us, our interpretation & our understanding is the absolute end of the equation!  I don’t know any better than the next guy… But God does.  So what could God be doing right now to give you light where you need it, or make it so that you can shine that light for others in a meaningful way precisely because of what you have experienced?    

Light & sight are interesting things.  You can be in absolutely, pitch-black darkness, but even the tiniest, most minute light will inevitably draw your eye to it.  It’s why they charge double to put those tiny little indicators on light switches: you’ll see it from across a dark room, and you can find more light.  That’s our faith too, and always go back to it.  Christ is light, and in his transfiguration today we remember just how much light he has as the son of God.  In the darkness of the things we don’t understand or guilt of sin that smothers us, see that.  In fact, see more than that.  See Jesus somehow shining out even more brightly on another mount: on a cross where he pierced through the darkest clouds of hell.  Then see Jesus somehow shining out even more brightly than that from the gloom of a grave for you…  Dear Christian, TRUST YOUR EYES, eyes of faith that see Jesus.  Amen.

One Shining Moment

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Passage: Exodus 34:29-35

Date: March 2, 2025

Pastor: Pastor Horton

Are you familiar with this song?  “The ball is tipped…And there you are…You’re running for your life…You’re a shooting star…”  Any guesses?  What if I continue: “In one shining moment, it’s all on the line…One shining moment, there frozen in time.” It’s a song, recorded by a few artists now called “One Shining Moment.”  It’s played at the end of the final March Madness college basketball tournament when the Big Dance wraps up and a musical montage recaps all the great and memorable moments in the tournament.  And yes, I did my research and rewatched the “One Shining Moment” montage from 2015 when the Badgers made that great run to the championship game beating undefeated Kentucky, making them 38-1 (done) with Sam Dekker, Frank Kaminski, and Bronson Koenig.  And no, I don’t want to talk about the last 10 minutes of the championship game.  It was a memorable basketball run.  One Shining Moment.  Who knows, maybe this weekend here in our Eastside gymnasium, one of the teams or players here today may have their one shining moment as well.

Moses did.  Literally.  His face shone so brightly he needed a veil to cover it.  Why?  Because of the moments he had before God witnessing some of the glory of God.     

Do you remember Moses?  The disciples did.  He lived at one of those major moments in Israel’s history.  God used him to lead the Israelites out of their Egyptian slavery.  It was a shining moment for them, because it marked their birth, no longer as a family or tribe of people, but as a nation.  And when they came out of Egypt, instead of God leading the Israelites directly northeast to the Promised Land, he led them south.  God wanted them to see something out in the desert, at a mountain called Sinai.  They camped at the foot of the mountain.  You may remember how it was covered with black clouds and lightning.  Out of the thunder God called Moses up the mountain.  Many days later Moses came down and proclaimed God’s laws to Israel.  And here is how the Israelites knew Moses had one shining moment with the great I AM – we’re told: “Moses did not realize that the skin of his face was shining because he had been speaking with the LORD.” (Exodus 34:29).  He was shining with God’s glory.  He spoke God’s Words, and when he was done speaking God’s Word, the glory was covered with a veil.

One might reason that it should be the other way around.  You might think that when his face was glowing, that then the veil should be on, and then when his face stopped glowing, that then one could take the veil off.  But God always does things his way, always with his reasons.  Instead, when Moses was proclaiming the words straight from God, the people had to look at his shining, unveiled face.  Then, when Moses was done speaking, the shining glory began to fade away – it was then that he covered his face.  They never saw the plain old Moses.  Their only impression of him would be that of, well, “One Shining Moses”.  Why?

You know how it is with us.  What is amazing on Sunday is the new normal on Monday and thrown in the trash on Tuesday.  God didn’t want that to happen with his words of truth.  And so the veil that covered “One Shining Moses” was a reminder that Moses had spoken God’s word.  And even though he was just a regular guy, he was still God’s spokesman.  So, the veil wasn’t to hide the glory of God, but to hide the un-glory of the imperfect man Moses.  In addition, the veil served as a reminder that the laws given through Moses were temporary.  So, the man Moses was not able to save.  And the law given by the man Moses was unable to save, but they all pointed forward to a better reality.

We would do well to stop and think about how this applies to us today.  Because the truth is we want shining moments before God.  And much like a basketball player hitting a game winning three pointer, we often think that we can create such moments through the law.  We want to shine before God when it comes to our own deeds and accomplishments.  We want to hang our hat of salvation, not upon Moses’ name but upon ourselves. 

But humans are not able to save themselves.  For God tells us that the law demands perfection.  And it probably doesn’t take very long for each of us to recognize that we have lost some of the sparkle and razzle dazzle we had hoped to find within ourselves.  Take a quick look at your life as I do mine and we and realize that we have fallen far short of what the law demands.  Our hymnals even lead us through a series of questions we can use to examine our hearts before God and help us to recognize our great need to receive forgiveness at the Lord’s Supper.  Have we always made the most of our moments in ways that honor God?  Or have we wasted some of our time of grace on mindless pursuits, pastimes, and handheld devices?  Have we been the best employer, employee, and spouse, child, parent, or friend we could be?  Or have we had some not so shining moments of pettiness, selfishness, and stubbornness?  Have we been great encouragers and prayerful in light of God’s grace?  Or have we been mean and vindictive?   Have we always loved God above all things and loved hearing from his Word?  Or have we thought at times that we’re good enough law-keepers all on our own?  Should I keep going?  Because I could – I could keep calling you and me out.  Far from perfect people, we find in ourselves a darkness of sin – something we are born with and something we need help from God to be rid of.  And God helps us look away from ourselves and towards his solution in his Son.  We need shining moments with Jesus.

God opens up his glowing gospel for us today.  The true glory of God is only seen in Christ Jesus.  Here is perfection.  In his life, in his innocent death, in accomplishing our salvation, by swiping away every last one of our sins at the cross and declaring total triumph for you over death at his now empty tomb – which now radiates victory.  Jesus blocked  – he stuffed – the devils best work to destroy us.  Jesus himself says in John 12:46, “I have come into the world as a light, so that no one who believes in me should stay in darkness.”  God’s plan to fulfill the law in Jesus was a complete success.  And now we, who have been made right before God in Jesus, we can joyfully live for him, not living in the shadow of what we have done but living for the light before us.  You know what really causes rejoicing in basketball – it’s when a player throws down a giant dunk.  The crowd gets on their feet and erupts in celebration.  We have more to rejoice over in our Savior Jesus!

And what’s more is that God gives us shining moments with Jesus, and helps our faith grow in him.  Our epistle reading tells us, “But all of us who reflect the Lord’s glory with an unveiled face are bring transformed into his own image.”  What a difference this shining moment makes for you and me!  When Moses came down the mountain after talking with God – the Israelites were afraid of him.  The law brings fear.  But the gospel of Jesus gives to us a peace that the world cannot and a peace that we cannot give to ourselves even through all our self-saving efforts to follow the law.  Jesus removes fear and helps us grow in life and in love.  Jesus changes hearts and renews souls.  That’s why today we look beyond the “one shining Moses,” we find the glory of God’s one and only Son.  

No matter if our basketball teams have the thrill of victory or the agony of defeat this weekend – we have these moments in the gospel right now with Jesus.  We see his glory on the Mount of Transfiguration.  We see it veiled at times though Lent but there shining bright again in Holy Week!  And we get to have our “one shining moments” here at church with Jesus.  We see his coming to us as our needed Savior through his same powerful message.  We hear his gospel of peace.  We have his body and blood with the bread and wine in the Supper and we get forgiveness through him as he promises you!  We know that these moments are faith-building moments because God has promised to be present and at work through such means for our salvation.

And we can rejoice.  Because one day we will get to see the glory of God with our own eyes – better than what Moses did and longer than what the disciples had.  One might say, that all thanks to Jesus, our future song may not be “one shining moment,” but something more to the tune of “Forever with the Lord…Amen so let it be” .  Thank you, Jesus.  Amen.

Uncovered: The Need for Transfiguration

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We’ve reached the end of the season of Epiphany. Today, we’ll have one last look at what needs to be uncovered, only today it’s going to feel different.

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