Our American ancestors traveled westward with great enthusiasm. They loaded up their families, they got into caravans and they hit the Oregon Trail with the hope of finding a permanent home. But as they went west, the dark side of the Oregon Trail soon overshadowed them: violence, disease, starvation. And if you made it through all of that, what was the next challenge? It was the mountains. Mountains that reached to the heavens, mountains that gave you two choices: cross at your own peril, or end your journey now. It was as if God himself had come down and said to you, “Just what were you thinking? Why did you ever leave home in the first place?” And whatever beauty those mountains inspired was immediately sucked away by the feeling of isolation, and the fear of having to cross over them or end your journey short of its goal.

To this day, mountains still have that same effect on people, though granted, it’s not as dramatic. Air travel certainly makes crossing mountains a cinch. But if you’ve ever stood at the base of a mountain and looked upwards to what seems an impossible height, then you’ve felt the strange sensation that this mountain is big and impossible.

So what’s it like to stand before the Mountain of God? How did the Israelites describe Mt. Sinai? A consuming fire! And Peter, James and John standing on a different mountain would see the glory of Jesus as he was transfigured before them. They would hear the voice of God. And they were afraid. Yet at the same time, when it would seem like too much for them to handle, Jesus reaches out to them to take away their fear and give them faith.

When you and I are afraid because we have sinned against God, God reveals his glory that we might know his power to undo the wrongs we have committed. He is mighty to save. His glory on top of the Mount of Transfiguration points us to another mountain where sin and guilt were atoned for by the blood of his son Jesus Christ. There we see the glory of God in a much different way: the bitter sufferings and death of his son. There is power when Jesus says, “It is finished.” Your sin and mine are swallowed up in that powerful act of self sacrifice. And when Jesus was buried he descended into hell to declare his victory over Satan. And later Jesus rose from the dead to prove beyond any doubt that not only has sin been defeated but so has death. This is the powerful God who reveals his glory to you. Climb up and see him that you might know his power. Climb up the Mount of Transfiguration that you might echo the words of the great Advent Psalm,

Lift up you heads, O you gates; be lifted up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle…Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty—he is the king of glory!