Here's the setting: six full days have passed since our encounter with Jesus at Caesarea Philippi. Now he took his three closest friends with him to a "high mountain by themselves" (Matthew 17:1). Mount Hermon is nearby, standing some 9,000 feet tall, and is most likely where this event took place.

Nothing else before Easter reveals so fully the price Jesus paid to come to earth for us. Standing before Peter, James, and John, he was "transfigured." The Greek word is metamorphothe, meaning to be changed or transformed. Here his external appearance changed so that "His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light."

This is how Jesus appeared before his Incarnation. In his last prayer before Gethsemane, Jesus asked, "And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began" (John 17:5). This is that glory.

This is how he appears now. When John met the risen Christ on the prison island of Patmos, he saw this: "His head and hair were white like wool, as white as snow, and his eyes were like blazing fire…His face was like the sun shining in all its brilliance" (Revelation 1:14, 16).

This is how he will appear on that day of final victory forecast by John: "I saw heaven standing open and there before me was a white horse, whose rider is called Faithful and True. With justice he judges and makes war. His eyes are like blazing fire, and on his head are many crowns. He has a name written on him that no one knows but himself. He is dressed in a robe dipped in blood, and his name is the Word of God. The armies of heaven were following him, riding on white horses and dressed in fine linen, white and clean. Out of his mouth comes a sharp sword with which to strike down the nations. 'He will rule them with an iron scepter.' He treads the winepress of the fury of the wrath of God Almighty. On his robe and on his thigh he has this name written: KING OF KINGS AND LORD OF LORDS" (Revelation 19:11-16).

On that day every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:10-11).

But for 33 years he masked all of that, with this one exception. He gave up all of that, for us. He left eternity for time, heavenly glory for our fallen planet, the worship of angels for the disobedience of men. See the price he paid to follow his Father's will.

And this mountain would lead to another, one we call Calvary. Moses and Elijah appeared with him, representing the Law and the Prophets. Luke 9:31 says that they discussed together Jesus' impending death. He gave up heaven for earth, and a throne for a cross.

His disciples would never be the same. This was the day which started them down the road of service and suffering, ministry and martyrdom.

They "fell facedown to the ground, terrified" (Matthew 17:6).

They joined Isaiah, who saw the glorified Lord and cried, "Woe to me!" (Isaiah 6:5). They mirrored John's later response to seeing the risen Christ on Patmos: "I fell at his feet as though dead" (Revelation 1:17).

If we have not been awed by God, we have not truly worshiped him. We have not seen him as he really is, and ourselves as we really are. Think about the last time you met a truly famous or great person. Were you flippant or careful with your words? Superior or humbled by them?

I was recently in Austin, where I met for the first time with Tom Craddick, the Speaker of the House. I would not have known him before, and would have been polite but not awed to meet him on the street. But standing with him behind the Speaker's platform, watching him wield his gavel and control the political affairs of the entire State, was impressive indeed. Knowing who he was led to awe at who he is. When last did you stand before God in that way?

When we see God as he is, we realize that he is worth all it costs to serve him. Jesus had warned them, "Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead" (Matthew 17:9). But after he was raised, they would not stop until they had told the world about their glorious Lord. The torch of global salvation was passed into their hands, and they would not let it fall. They would "take up his quarrel with the foe." They would assault the gates of hell. They would die before they would let his message die. And we are here today because of them.