What do I know with Isaac Carroll
What do I know with Isaac Carroll
The Transfiguration first hand witnesses to the radiant face of God.
What does it truly mean to recognize Jesus as divine? Six days after Jesus promises some will see the Son of Man in His glory, He takes Peter, James, and John up a mountain where they witness something extraordinary: Jesus transfigured, His face shining like the sun, standing alongside Moses and Elijah. This powerful moment reveals Jesus as the fulfillment of both the Law and Prophets, yet the disciples still struggle to grasp its significance.
The contrast between mountain-top revelation and valley-floor failure becomes stark when the disciples prove unable to heal a demon-possessed boy. Jesus' frustration emerges: "You unbelieving and perverse generation!" Despite witnessing countless miracles, their faith remains fragile - a struggle we all know too well. How many times has God shown up powerfully in our lives, only for us to doubt Him weeks later when new challenges arise?
Perhaps most revealing is Peter's temple tax blunder. Having just seen Jesus revealed as divine light, he still thinks the Lord of the temple should pay the temple tax! This moment perfectly captures our human tendency to compartmentalize our faith, failing to connect spiritual truths with practical living. The episode concludes with a challenging question that cuts to the heart of modern Christianity: Have we fundamentally misunderstood our relationship with God? We often behave as though God exists to serve our needs, when Scripture clearly teaches the opposite - we are here to serve Him. True discipleship means fearing God more than human rejection and embracing selfless service rather than self-centered spirituality. Ready for a faith that transforms rather than merely comforts? Listen now and discover what it means to truly follow the transfigured Christ.
May God bless you and lead you always.
Welcome to the podcast. I'm Isaac Carroll, and this is what Do I Know. In today's Bible study, we are going to be starting chapter 17 of Matthew, verse 1. Six days later, jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John, and he led them up on a high mountain by themselves and he was transfigured there before them. His face shone like the sun and his garments became as white as light. And behold, moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him. Peter responded and said to Jesus Lord, it is good that we are here. If you want, I will make three tabernacles here one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah. While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them and behold, a voice from the cloud said this is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.
Speaker 1:When the disciples heard this, they fell face down on the ground and were terrified. And Jesus came to them and touched them and said Get up and do not be afraid. And, raising their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. When they were coming down from the mountain, jesus commanded them saying Tell the vision to no one until the Son of man has risen from the dead. And his disciples asked him why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? And he answered and said Elijah is coming and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah already came and they did not recognize him but did to him whatever they wanted. So also, the son of man is going to suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptist. All right, let's stop here at verse 13 real quick and talk about what just happened.
Speaker 1:Now. Jesus had just prophesied the last chapter, that some of those who were not going to taste death until they saw the Son of man in his glory, jesus taking Peter, james and John up onto the mountain, and he transfigured himself into his glory, a being of pure light. God's word says that in God is light, in him there is no darkness. God's word says that in God is light, in him there is no darkness. And he's joined there by Moses, and Moses represents the law, and Elijah, and Elijah who represents the prophets. Now, in Matthew 22, verse 33 and 34, jesus is talking about the greatest commandments and as he's talking about them, he said you must love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, all your soul, with all your mind. And the second was like it, that you must love your neighbor as yourself. He says. By these you will fulfill all the law Moses represents and all the prophets which Elijah represents.
Speaker 1:Now, why does Jesus only take the three? I don't have a biblical answer for you on this, but I can tell you this that Paul states this in 2 Corinthians 13, starting in verse 1. And what he's doing is he's reciting Deuteronomy 19.15. It says every matter has to be established by two or three witnesses. Jesus is establishing by two or three witnesses on Mount Tabor the fact that he is God made flesh, and the reason why the other two are there is that it's all complete. Let's continue to verse 14.
Speaker 1:When they came down to the crowd, a man came up to Jesus, falling on his knees before him. He's saying Lord, have mercy on my son because he has seizures and suffers terribly, for he often falls into the fire or often into the water. And I brought him to your disciples and they could not cure him. And Jesus answered and said you, unbelieving and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to me. And Jesus rebuked him and the demon came out of him and the boy was healed at once. Then disciples came to Jesus privately and said why could we not cast it out? And he said to them Because of your meager faith, for truly, I say to you, if only you had faith of the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain Move from here to there, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. All right, so let's stop here at verse 21 and discuss this for a few minutes.
Speaker 1:This is one of the few times in scripture where I've read that Jesus got really frustrated with his disciples and the people because of their unbelief. Let me read this account again in Mark's account of the gospel, and it's in Mark 9, starts in verse 17. It says someone in the crowd replied teacher, I brought you my son who has a spirit that makes him mute. Whenever it seizes him, he throws him into the ground and he foams the mouth and gnashes his teeth. It becomes rigid. Bring the boy to me, verse 20. Jesus asked the boy. Into a convulsion he fell to the ground and he rolled around foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy's father how long has it been with him From childhood, he said it often throws him into the fire or into the water, trying to kill him. But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us. If you can, echoed Jesus. All things are possible to him who believes. Jesus has been with the disciples and the people for what? Three years now and nothing has been impossible for him. He's given sight to the blind, he's cured leprosy, he's even raised the dead. He's cast out demons of every sort.
Speaker 1:Why do people still doubt? Seems almost hard to believe, but but we have it wrote down for our benefit because we still suffer doubt. I've said this before. I can't tell you how many times Jesus has done something in my life and showed up in such a major way. And two or three weeks later something will happen and I'm back in that you know, doubting God, not that God is with me or that his word is true, but doubting that I'm in line with Jesus because of situations. And I know it's stupid and it don't even seem real, but it happens to us every day and it's wrote down here to remind us that these things do happen. And this thing called doubt. It's frustrating to God because God always shows up and his word is true. And if we truly believe his word is true, why are we doubting? But thank God, he is patient with us.
Speaker 1:Now there's one question that and I don't have an answer for it, so I'm not going to chase it, but I'd at least like to present it to you, and it's about the boy. All right, so the boy has a evil spirit. We called him a demon and the effects of the demon were that he was mute and that he has seizures, really bad seizures. Foam in the mouth becomes rigid. If anybody's witnessed a seizure by someone, it's truly traumatic. And this boy has a seizure and they're attributing this epilepsy, this condition, because of an evil spirit. And I wonder, in modern day science, doctors would just count this up as you know something wrong and it's a disability that people have. And the boy has bad seizures. How many things that we deal with nowadays that science has pretty much figured out that it's something, some ailment in the body and not of the spirit, to the point where we don't even believe in evil spirits anymore. We don't see them, we don't, they're not relevant in our day and time, but yet they were so much so in the time of Jesus, and Jesus drives his spirit out and the boy becomes well. I wonder how many evil spirits are actually there in today's time that is manifested in an ailment. I know it's just food for thought and a question that I ponder.
Speaker 1:Let's move on to verse 22. And while they were gathered together in Galilee, jesus said to them the son of man is going to be handed over to the men and they will kill him and he will be raised on the third day. And they were all deeply grieved. Now, when they came to Capernaum, those who collected the two drachma tax came to Peter and said does your teacher not pay the two drachma tax? Came to Peter and said Does your teacher not pay the two drachma tax? He said yes. And when he came into the house, jesus spoke to him first saying what do you think, simon, from whom do the kings of the earth collect customs or poll tax? From their sons or from strangers? When Peter said From strangers, jesus said to him Then the sons are exempt. However, so that we do not offend when Peter said All right, we have come to the end of chapter 17,. And another great example of Peter failing miserably, which, like I said, I identify with Peter so well.
Speaker 1:It says that the two drachma tax yeah, they asked him about the two drachma tax. The two drachma tax was a temple tax and it was for the upkeep of the temple. Peter says that Jesus is the Messiah, the Christ, the Son of God. What was the temple built for? The temple was the house, the Spirit of God. Peter just saw Jesus transfigure into a being of pure light, god himself walking among us. If the temple was built for God, why would he pay a temple tax, something greater than the temple was with him?
Speaker 1:Yet Peter still can't get past his history. His limitation is his religion, forgetting the fact that the very thing that we worship was walking right next to him. And it's funny because when Peter went to find Jesus, jesus, knowing what he had done, calls him Simon. Peter had done something that was wrong. Jesus would call him by his given name Simon, not the name that he had been given by Jesus to let him know that he had failed in some way. And he asked him the question about who pays the tax. And Peter rightly claims it was for a stranger and he says well, the son is exempt. And then Jesus once again proves that he is, god Sends Simon out to do what he used to do, which was fish, and he sells him the very first fish that he brings up. What happened is the amount of money he needed to appease the collection of the tax. And it's sad because Peter still has to come full circle with the idea that Jesus is not a man among men, but God made flesh, and it takes the death and resurrection of Jesus to eventually bring him to that full circle connection. But don't judge Peter too harshly. None of us are any better at truly grasping who God is in our hearts. Let me expound on this for a few minutes.
Speaker 1:I recently had been watching this series called the House of David. Now, don't watch it if you're one of those who it has to adhere word for word, because it tells you right up front it doesn't. Liberties were taken with it. It's a story about a story, and the story's about David, king David, and in the story, samuel the prophet goes to Saul who had been anointed king, and he takes the anointing away from Saul because Saul had disobeyed God. And Saul was given an excuse that he was afraid of the people. The reason why he disobeyed was he was afraid of the people. And Samuel looked at him and said why were you not more afraid of God? And it struck me.
Speaker 1:Jesus says in Matthew 10, 28, do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Instead, fear the one who destroys both soul and body. In hell. We hide secret sins from each other. Why? Because we're afraid of judgment from someone else, we give in to peer pressure by even others. Because we're afraid of judgment from someone else, we give in to peer pressure by even others. Because we're afraid of a rejection by them. Should we not be more afraid of God, the very God who knows our motives, he knows what we do every second of the day, he knows our thoughts, what drives us? The very God we supposedly serve? Shouldn't this matter the most? Jesus said you will know them by their fruits. Well, it's the same fruit. We'll know ourselves or come to know ourselves.
Speaker 1:And the problem with most Christians nowadays is that they don't see God in this way. They say God is the one that I run to when the world gets hard, he's the one I run to for comfort and he's who supplies my needs. Doesn't the Bible teach us that God is all we need and that he's the one that sends us out into the world, and the world's going to be hard on us, because we come from God, because we live for him and not it. That is his love and acceptance we desire above all else, not everybody else's acceptance. We're sent out into the world to do his will, not our own, and the problem with a modern day Christian is that it's taught God is there for them and not they are here for God.
Speaker 1:And why so many find it hard to serve Truly serve Selfless. Service Selfless requires you to give up self and serve others, which is God, is what he's asked you to do. To be a servant of God is to deny self. Take up your cross and follow him. And we've got it so wrong. God, in their mind, is here for us and their mind is here for us Like he's somebody who's there on the sidelines cheering us on and whenever we don't get our way or we stumble and we skin our knee, we're supposed to run to God and he's going to kiss it and make it better and say keep going, everything's going to be all right. Go on out there into the world and keep it up. You're going to be successful, everything's going to be great, and that's not it at all. That's not even close to what it is. We are here for him. He's God, not us. We're the servants. We're here to glorify God. We're here to do his will.
Speaker 1:The two greatest commandments that Jesus gives love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind, and to love others as yourself. Commandments given to us by God, not ideas that sound good on a piece of paper but we have really no desire to accomplish. I mean, why should we serve when everything's about us? It's past time that the body of Christ remembers that God is God and he's called us to a life of holiness and of service. I'm going to end this one here. In our next Bible study, we'll be in chapter 18. Until then, be a good servant. I love you guys. Bye.