“And it came to pass about eight days after these sayings, He took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.
“And as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment was white and glistering.
“And, behold, there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elias.
“Who appeared in glory, and spake of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem.
“But Peter and they that were with him were heavy with sleep; and when they were awake, they saw His glory, and the two men that stood with Him.
“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.”
Peter wanted to put Jesus on a level with Moses and Elias. To be sure, Moses was a mighty man. He went into the mountain and took the law from the Lord God of Heaven, and Elias was a representative of the prophets and a mighty man; but when Peter wanted to put them on a level with the God-man--with Jesus--what took place? Why, there came a cloud which over-shadowed them. God caught them right away. God would not have them placing Moses and Elias on a level with His Son. He is above the angels of Heaven; and we find over here, in the last chapter of the Bible, and in almost the last verse in it, that John was guilty of the same thing--of worshiping angels. It says over here, in the twenty-second chapter and eighth verse of Revelations:
“And I, John, saw these things and heard them. And when I had heard and seen, I fell down to worship before the feet of the angel which showed me these things.
“Then saith he unto me: ‘See thou do it not; for I am thy fellow servant, and of thy brethren the prophets, and of them which keep the sayings of this book. Worship God.’”
Now, if Jesus was not the God-man--if He was not God in the flesh--then you and I are guilty of idolatry; we are breaking the first command: “Thou shalt have no other God before Me.”
But when Jesus came down here, He said: “Come unto Me, all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest.” And He never rebuked any one for worshiping Him. But John fell down and worshiped that angel, and the angel refused to let him; and when Peter wanted to put Elias and Moses on a level with Christ, God the Father spoke and said: “This is my beloved Son. Hear ye Him.”
No matter about Elias now. No matter about Moses now. Hear Jesus. He is the one that God wants all of us here to worship.
Now, some one says we can not know, down here, whether we are safe or not. Well, we have an assurance right here:
“Then Simon Peter answered Him: ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life.
“‘And we believe and are sure that Thou art that Christ, the Son of the living God.’”
I will now call your attention to Peters faults. If you will just turn over here into the twenty-second chapter of Luke, you will find there a fault. Begin at the thirty-third verse of the twenty-second chapter of Luke, and you will find the following:
“And he said unto him: ‘Lord, I am ready to go with Thee, both into prison and to death.’
“And He said: ‘I tell thee, Peter, the cock shall not crow, this day, before that thou shalt thrice deny that thou knowest Me.’
“And He said unto them: ‘When I sent you without purse and scrip and shoes, lacked ye any thing?’ And they said: ‘Nothing.’”
Now, here we find Peter’s fault of self-confidence. That was really his besetting sin, and when the Lord told him that the cock should not crow twice before he had denied Him thrice, he ought to have believed the words of Christ and cried for help; but no, he was very self-confident. “Why,” says he, “if the rest of the disciples deny You, I will not deny You.”
Peter not only declared he would not deny Jesus, but he even tried to make the other disciples worse by comparison. If you meet a man full of conceit and self-confidence, you may look for that man’s downfall.
Men who have stood the highest, in Scripture, have often fallen on their strongest point.
Moses was noted for his humility. Right there he fell. He got angry instead of being humble, and fell through lack of humility.
Elijah was noted for his boldness. Right there he fell. Why, he stood on Mount Carmel and defied the whole nation. He stood there alone. He seemed to be the boldest man in the whole nation. But after a while he got word that Jezebel was going to take his life, and then he lost all his boldness and got scared at the threat of a woman.
There was Samson, who was noted for his strength. He lost his hair, wherein his strength consisted, but he recovered it. They cut off his hair, but they did not remove the roots, and it grew out again.
Abraham was noted for his faith. But he got into Egypt, and denied his wife.