SERMON for February 15, 2026 by Pastor Himm

The Glorious Reappearing of Christ 2 Peter 1:16-21

Grace to you and peace, from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.

Although February is the shortest month of the year – even with the extra day in leap year – sometimes it seems like the longest. What accounts for this? Could it be a couple warmer days that get you excited for spring only to be followed by another blast of arctic air and snow? Could it be because there is still more than a month before Easter? All these make February feel like a very long month.

March isn’t much better, is it? Perhaps there is more hope for spring since some of the days get much warmer. But will it come in like a lion and go out like a lamb, or will it come in like a lamb and go out like a lion? Combined with February, it is easy to get the winter blues.

To combat the winter blues we need to look ahead. We look forward to a warmer and more pleasant time of the year. We look forward to spring and summer. We need to start thinking about getting out and playing baseball and softball, soccer and golf, tennis and pickle ball, planting a garden and going on walks. So, as we look forward to these things we still must live one day at a time. Yet we wait with eager expectations for what lies ahead. We set our hopes on the better times ahead.

February and March are not only long months according to our physical & emotional minds, they can also be long months for our spiritual minds. There can be a depression between the happy Christmas season and the joyful Easter celebration. Satan tries during this time of the year to put doubts in our heads about our faith and/or need to faithfully hear the Word of God.

At times such as these, we need to look forward to a better time. And that is exactly what the Apostle Peter is proposing in our second lesson this morning. He proposes that we eagerly await THE GLORIOUS REAPPEARING OF CHRIST. He tells us why we can set our hope on the glorious reappearing of Christ. First, he tells us that it is based on his eyewitness account of the Transfiguration. Then he tells us that it is also based on the sure prophetic word.

St. Peter writes: 16 To be sure, we were not following cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the powerful appearance of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.

In his 2nd letter, Peter was proposing for his readers to look ahead for comfort and strength. He told them to set their sights on heavenly things, to the glorious reappearing of Christ their Savior. He assured them that is was not simply a made-up story that Christ would come again in glory. It wasn’t a fable. It was true. And the reason Peter knew that it was true was because he had seen the Lord Jesus in his full glory on the Mount of Transfiguration. He, together with James and John, were privileged to witness Jesus in his glorious, exalted state.

Do you remember what took place at Jesus’ Transfiguration? You heard Matthew’s account of it in the Gospel this morning. According to Peter he declares this about Jesus: 17 For 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.” 18We heard this voice, which came out of heaven when we were with him on the holy mountain.

Jesus did indeed receive honor and glory when he was transfigured. According to St. Matthew, His face was shining like the sun. His clothing became as white as the light. Jesus for this brief moment in time, once again displayed his full power and majesty that rightfully belonged to him as true God. Remember, how Jesus laid aside his full power, honor, and glory when he left his heavenly throne to become true man? Now Jesus was being strengthen for what was laying ahead of him – the payment of our sins by his suffering and death. For that brief moment he was once again in his full glory. It was like having his battery recharged so that he could faithfully and perfectly carry out his Father’s plan of salvation for us.

While on that mount, Moses and Elijah also appeared with Jesus. According to Luke’s Gospel, they spoke to Jesus about his departure which he was about to bring to fulfillment in Jerusalem. They were there to encourage Jesus in the last days of his life.

We might wonder why the Son of God needed this encouragement, or why he needed to be transfigured at all. If we fail to realize that Jesus is both true God and true man, we will undoubtedly never understand it. We need to remind ourselves that Jesus was every part human as you and me, except he was totally without sin. That is why we see Jesus hungry or thirsty, tired or troubled. That is why he would often go off by himself to pray. Jesus needed encouragement in much the same way we do. He needed it especially now as he faced going up to Jerusalem to die. As true God he knew exactly what laid ahead. He knew he had to fulfill the Scriptures. That is why he needed the Transfiguration. It was like a shot in the arm so that he could set his face toward Jerusalem to suffer and die for you and for me.

The voice from heaven was extremely comforting to our Lord. Just like at his baptism, the Father once again confirmed that Jesus was his Son and that he was well pleased with him. When Peter heard this testimony, he must have been reminded of Psalm 2 where it says; He said to me, “You are my son; today I have become your Father.” The testimony of Peter is true, he not only saw this event with his own eyes, he heard it with his own ears.

It is interesting that as Jesus and the three disciples – Peter, James, and John – made their way down the mountain, Jesus told them not to tell anyone about what happened up there until after his resurrection. For prior to his resurrection, no one would have fully understood the events of the Transfiguration. Peter had waited to tell of the events just as Jesus said. Now

he tells how these events support that Jesus will once again return, not as he had once humbly come, but that he would return with his fully glory, the glory Peter had witnessed at the Lord’s Transfiguration.

During these long months of winter, sometimes we get the blues. We just go through the motions. We forget that our Lord and Savior could come at any moment. We forget what a marvelous time that will be. With Lent beginning this Wednesday (Ash Wednesday) we think of Jesus as an unfortunate man who was betrayed by his own disciple, Judas, suffered the whipping and ridicule of the soldiers; condemned by the religious leaders; sentenced to death by the Roman governor, Pilate; crucified and buried. These horrific things we need to once again ponder. But may we never forget he did it all willingly to redeem us from our sin and its penalty of eternal death. This was God’s plan of salvation. Remember, Jesus as true God didn’t have to be subjected to any of that suffering and death. But he did! He did it because that was the only way you and I could ever to heaven, Love for us and faithfulness to his Father compelled him to take the beatings, mockery, and the agony of crucifixion to save you and me – and every follower of Jesus.

Yes, Jesus could come again at any time. But he will not come with a crown of thorns on his head or with a purple robe on his bloody shoulders and back. He will come with his awesome glory and majesty, the same glory and majesty that Peter witnessed on the Mount of Transfiguration. We can look forward to seeing Jesus’s face shining like the sun and his clothes being as white as the light. Like, Peter, we too, will be able to say, “Lord, it is good for us to be here!”

The eyewitness account of the Transfiguration is not the only basis for the glorious reappearing of Christ. The sure prophet Word is also. Peter states: 19We also have the completely reliable prophetic word. You do well to pay attention to it.

The Scriptures give us hope. It gives us the hope of the glorious reappearing of Christ. For the Old Testament speaks time and time again of the coming of the Lord for Judgment. It speaks of the glory and splendor of which he will come. Therefore, my friends, pay attention to the sure prophetic and inspired Word of God.

Peter describes this prophetic Word: as to a lamp shining in a dark place, until the day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts, 20 since we know this above all else: No prophecy of Scripture comes about from someone’s own interpretation. 21 In fact, no prophecy ever came by the will of man, but men spoke from God as they were being carried along by the Holy Spirit.

What does it mean when Peter writes: the day dawns and the Morning Star rises in your hearts? Paul in 1 Corinthians tells us how the gospel shines in our sin-darkened hearts. Peter here tells us something else. He is writing to Christians. This 2nd letter of his is addressed to: To those who have obtained the same kind of faith as ours in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: Therefore, the dark place cannot be our hearts since our hearts have already been illumed by God’s Word. No, Peter means that the Word shines in this sin-darkened world in which we live. The sure prophetic and inspired Word gives us hope, joy and peace. But it also give provides hope to others as it calls them to the cross of forgiveness. This light shining in this dark world gives us hope in confidence of the glorious reappearing of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

But what does Peter mean by Morning Star rises in your hearts? In the book of Revelation, it tells us who this Morning Star is. I, Jesus, have sent my angel to give you this testimony for the churches. I am the Root and the Offspring of David, the bright Morning Star. Jesus will rise in our hearts as he reappears in his full glory, majesty, and splendor on the Last Day. He will shine brighter than the star that appears in the morning – the sun. He will shine with unimaginable splendor as he returns to take us to be with him forever in heaven. What a wonderful day that will be when we see our Lord who loved us, died and rose for us. What a marvelous day when we here him say, I love you, I forgive you. I am pleased with you. Enjoy my heavenly banquet. Celebrate with all the saints and angels.

What a glorious occasion we can look forward to. This will keep the spiritual winter blues away. So just as you look forward to spring and summer with eager expectations, look forward to the glorious reappearing of Christ. It isn’t a make-believe story, nor a fable, simply a parable. It isn’t a mere hope that can be snowed on. It is a solid hope based on the eye witnessed account of our Lord’s Transfiguration by Peter and the sure prophet and inspired Word of God.

Yes, the Lord is coming with his full glory and majesty. You can be sure of it. Amen.