Matthew 17:1-9
“Divine Confirmation”
Have you ever felt God was calling us to do a certain thing but we were not
sure? To make sure it was God directing us and we were not speaking to
ourselves, we looked for divine confirmation? Was there ever a time when you
prayed and you wanted to know if your prayers were answered? What did you do?
You looked for divine confirmation. To confirm something is to prove it is true; it
means to establish what we believe as real and actual and can be trusted.
When Jesus told the disciples in John 14:15, “If you love me, keep my
commandments.” In other words, Jesus was saying; if you love me prove it to me
by being obedient to my commandments. We confirm our love for God through
trusting and obeying. In the same way, we sometimes want to confirm God’s will
in our lives. In Matthew 14, after feeding the 5,000, Jesus went by himself to pray
and the disciples were in a boat. A strong storm arose and pounded against the
boat. Jesus knew the disciples would need him and so he walked on the sea and
went to them. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were afraid
and said to each other, “It is a ghost!” But Jesus said to them, “Take courage. It is
I. Do not be afraid.” Peter then said to the Lord, “Lord, if it is really you, tell me to
come to you on the water.” Jesus said to him, “Come.” Then Peter got down out
of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the
1
wind, he was afraid and began to sink. He cried out, “Lord, save me!”
Immediately Jesus reached out his hand, caught Peter and said, “You of little faith;
why did you doubt?” Peter received divine confirmation that it was Jesus but
because he doubted he began to sink.
In our reading for today, Jesus knew his end was near, and the time was
coming when he would face an agony of the cross for the victory over sin and
death. He knew his earthly mission was coming to an end and that he was going to
entrust the Gospel of salvation to these men who were his disciples. In Matthew
16 the Sadducees and the Pharisees were still questioning Jesus, asking for a sign
to prove he was the Messiah. They had seen the miracles of how he fed the five
thousand, how he raised the dead, and how he healed the sick. But were the
disciples convinced Jesus was the Messiah?
Not long after that, Jesus asked his disciples who people said he was. The
disciples told him how people felt he was John the Baptist, Elijah, Jeremiah, or one
of the prophets. Then Jesus asked them, “But what about you? Who do you say I
am?” Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the Living God.”
Jesus was impressed and told Simon it was God who had given him the inspiration
to declare this faith. This was important because if the disciples did not believe
Jesus was the Messiah, how could they tell others? If they did not see him as the
Savior of the world, how could they proclaim the Gospel of Salvation? We can’t
2
give what don’t have. We can’t testify to what we don’t know. We can’t preach
what we don’t believe. It was necessary that the disciples be convinced beyond a
shadow of a doubt that Jesus was the Promised Messiah, the Son of God.
Six days later, Jesus took Peter, James and John up to a high mountain.
While they were there, Jesus became transfigured. His face became as bright as
the sun and his clothes became as bright as light. I can only imagine how amazed
the disciples were. Just then, Moses and Elijah came and starting taking with
Jesus. Moses and Elijah were two of the greatest prophets in the history of Israel.
In Deuteronomy 34, we know Moses died and the Lord buried Moses in a valley in
Moab, but nobody knows where he is buried. In 2 Kings Chapter 2, Elijah did not
die but was taken to heaven. To see these two great men of God come and speak
to Jesus was a powerful experience. As if that wasn’t enough, while Peter was
talking about building three shelters or places to worship them, a bright cloud
covered them. They heard the voice of God say, “This is my Son, whom I love; I
am pleased with him. Listen to him!”
This was the highest divine confirmation where God Himself spoke about
Jesus. This was better than getting a letter of commendation from the President of
the United States or from the Queen of England. This was God telling the
disciples, Jesus is real. He was the Anointed One promised by God from the Old
Testament times. They should have no doubt about him. There should be no
3
questions in their minds. No matter what the Pharisees and Sadducees said or did,
they should have no doubt Jesus was the Christ, the Son of the Living God. They
had seen Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus. They had heard the voice of God.
What other proof did they need?
After this glorious experience, although Peter had suggested building laces
to worship them, Jesus led them back down to the community. This shows us that
after God has confirmed our prayers and our plans, we should go forth and work
among the people. After the mountain top experience, we should be ready to work
in the valley. After experiencing God, we should serve God’s people. God will
always confirm his will in our lives; it is up to us to find that confirmation. God
will always let us know when our prayers are answered through divine
confirmation.
Let me close with how God confirmed the prayers of 26 people who prayed
for a missionary. A missionary came home from overseas and told his home
church in Michigan a true story of divine confirmation. Every two weeks, this
missionary traveled by bicycle through the jungle to a nearby city for supplies. The
trip to get medicines and supplies took two days and the missionary had to camp
overnight at the halfway point. On one of these journeys, the missionary arrived in
the city where he collected money from a bank, bought medicine and supplies, and
then started his two-day journey back to the field hospital. When he arrived in the
4
city, he saw two men fighting, one of whom had been badly hurt. The missionary
stopped and treated him for his injuries and at the same time talked to him about
the Lord. After helping this young man and witnessing to him, the missionary
traveled the usual two days, camping overnight, and arrived home safely.
Two weeks later he repeated his journey to buy medicines and supplies.
When this missionary arrived in the city, he was approached by the young man he
had helped before. This young man told the missionary he knew the missionary
always carried money and medicines. He said, “Some friends and I followed you
into the jungle, knowing you would camp overnight. We planned to kill you and
take your money and drugs. But just as we were about to move into your camp, we
saw that you were surrounded by 26 armed guards.”
The missionary laughed and said to this young man he was certainly all
alone in that jungle campsite. But the young man kept insisting and said, “No sir, I
was not the only person to see the guards. My five friends also saw them, and we
all counted 26 of them. It was because of those guards that we were afraid and left
you alone.’"
At this point during the missionary testimony, one of the men in the
congregation jumped to his feet and interrupted the missionary and asked if he
could tell him the exact day this happened. The missionary told the congregation
5
the date and the man who interrupted told him this story: "On the night of your
incident, it was morning here and I was preparing to go play golf. I was about to
putt when I felt the urge to pray for you. In fact, the urging of the Lord was so
strong; I called men in this church to meet with me here in the sanctuary to pray for
you.” He then turned to the congregation and asked, “Would all of those men who
met with me on that day stand up?"
The men who had met together to pray that day stood up. The missionary
wasn’t concerned who they were, he was too busy counting how many men he
saw. There were 26.
This is a powerful story of how God often confirms what He is doing in our
lives. God wants to always confirm our faith. The disciples received divine
confirmation about who Jesus really was. 26 men received divine confirmation
that their prayers were answered. As we begin Lent this Ash Wednesday, May
God show us how to travel this journey to the cross with Jesus. May the Spirit
open our eyes to see God at work in our lives, amen.
6