" Six days later Jesus *took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and *led them up on a high mountain by themselves. 2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. 3 And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him. 4 Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." 5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!" 6 When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. 7 And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, "Get up, and do not be afraid." 8 And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.
9 As 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." 10 And His disciples asked Him,"Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" 11 And He answered and said, "Elijah is coming and will restore all things; 12 but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands." 13 Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist."
The disciples have seen some pretty marvelous things about Jesus; they’ve seen Him as a great teacher, a miraculous healer, they’ve seen Him calm the waves and the winds; they’ve even seen Him miraculously feed thousands of people, when there was not enough food. Now, they will see something which is not only spectacular, it's truly powerful.
The term transfigure, is the Greek verb "metamorphóō," from which we get the English word "metamorphosis." It is derived from two words, metá, meaning to change after being with and morphóō, changing form in keeping with inner reality. The preview of our Lord's transfiguration begins in verse 1, and runs all the way down through verse 13. There's a lot to cover here, we'll trust the Lord to guide and direct us here. Some people seem to have difficulty in relating the transfiguration to the promise of verse 28.
If you remember, in Acts chapter 2, with the coming of the Holy Spirit, the Church was given its formal birth. The disciples began to speak languages which previously, they did not know, and they spoke of the wonderful works of God. "When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in one place. And suddenly there came from heaven a noise like a violent rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting. And there appeared to them tongues as of fire distributing themselves, and they rested on each one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit was giving them utterance.
Now there were Jews living in Jerusalem, devout men from every nation under heaven. And when this sound occurred, the crowd came together, and were bewildered because each one of them was hearing them speak in his own language. They were amazed and astonished, saying, “Why, are not all these who are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we each hear them in our own language to which we were born? Parthians and Medes and Elamites, and residents of Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappadocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and Pamphylia, Egypt and the districts of Libya around Cyrene, and visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabs—we hear them in our own tongues speaking of the mighty deeds of God.” And they all continued in amazement and great perplexity, saying to one another, "What does this mean?" People didn’t really understand what all this was, but all of this was announcing the arrival of the Spirit of God giving birth to the Church.
But then, "Peter, taking his stand with the
eleven, raised his voice and declared to them: “Men of Judea and all you
who live in Jerusalem, let this be known to you and give heed to my
words. For these men are not drunk, as you suppose, for it is only the third hour of the day; but this is what was spoken of through the prophet Joel: ‘And it shall be in the last days,’ God says, ‘That I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind; And your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams; Even on My bondslaves, both men and women, I will in those days pour forth of My Spirit And they shall prophesy. ‘And I will grant wonders in the sky above And signs on the earth below, Blood, and fire, and vapor of smoke. ‘The sun will be turned into darkness And the moon into blood, Before the great and glorious day of the Lord shall come. ‘And it shall be that everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.’"
So, you see, it's the same kind of thing, the prophecy spoken through the prophet Joel, when God says, "And it shall be in the last days, I will pour forth of My Spirit on all mankind," had come to pass. Though everything that is promised in the prophecy by Joel did not happen on the day of Pentecost, we see it’s related to the Second Coming. The wondrous day of Pentecost is a preview, a taste of the good things that is to come when our Lord Jesus Christ returns. There is never a reason for a Christian to doubt the reality of the Second Coming. In His Word, the Lord has given us this marvelous preview of final glory that it is to come, to fill our hearts with hope and assurance.
Let us pray
Heaven Father,
Father, we thank You for Your Word, we are so grateful for this miraculous glimpse of glory, that we would willingly deny ourselves, take up our cross and follow You. How graciously we receive this precious gift which we do not deserve. Lord, we confess that in our finite minds, we don’t always fully understand all these things. Grant us the eyes of understanding, that we would understand the weight of this magnificent portion of Scripture, when the Lord who dwells in us, was transfigured that day on the mountain. We pray that those who have never opened their hearts to Jesus Christ, would not be able escape this reality. We ask that You would do a mighty work in their hearts, that they would not only believe, but will repent and accept Him as Lord and Savior. Father, we ask and pray these things in Christ's name, that You would be glorified and Christ exalted.
Amen
Today's Message: A Glimpse of Glory
Recorded in Matthew’s Gospel, in chapter 16, verse 27, we have the first overt promise of the Lord's Second Coming. "For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels,
and then He shall render to every man according to his works." He has been talking about self-denial, cross bearing, rejection and suffering, and death. We know that it will not always be that way, because there will be a day, when the Son of Man comes in the full blazing glory of the Father with His angels! I believe that this is such an important message, I pray that you will agree.
"Six days later Jesus *took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and *led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; and 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 said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!" When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified. And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, "Get up, and do not be afraid." And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone.
As 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 wished. 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."
Jesus took these three men, Peter, James, and John, up on a high mountain for the purpose of seeing Him transfigured. As you can imagine, seeing Jesus supernaturally transformed, was an amazing experience for the disciples to witness. Evidence of the promise that one day, all the self-denial, cross bearing, and loyal obedience and suffering will be wonderfully compensated by the coming in glory. Though in the present the promise is very hard to believe, we can be sure it will come, because our Lord says it will come! Here we see a glimpse of the glory of God manifested in and on the Son of God. I’m not sure what I would do if I had witnessed this, certainly I would be in complete awe.Let’s look at verse 1, "Six days later Jesus *took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and *led them up on a high mountain by themselves." In Luke's account, he says about eight days, he may be including the day the promise was given and the day it was fulfilled, which would add the two days. While Matthew may be writing only about the days in between the promise and the fulfillment. I believe the difference, is just their perception, not a discrepancy.
I've often been asked why Jesus chose Peter, James and John, they were the closest to Him. Along with Andrew, they were the first ones gathered at His side, His relationship them seems to be more intimate. Furthermore, He needed to have three trustworthy witnesses to see His glory. Deuteronomy 19 says "A single witness shall not rise up against a man on account of any iniquity or any sin which he has committed; on the evidence of two or three witnesses a matter shall be confirmed." And, we find a number of places in Scripture where they were frequently alone with Jesus. The example that immediately comes to my mind, is the in Garden of Gethsemane the night He was pouring out His heart to the Father, agonizing in prayer, until He sweat drops of blood. Jesus rebuked them for sleeping, but sleep is a way to escape depression. I believe they may have been sleeping to deal with the depression of His coming death.
Follow along as I read Mark 14, "They *came to a place named Gethsemane; and He *said to His disciples, "Sit here until I have prayed." And He *took with Him Peter and James and John, and began to be very distressed and troubled.And He *said to them, "My soul is deeply grieved to the point of death; remain here and keep watch." And He went a little beyond them, and fell to the ground and began to pray that if it were possible, the hour might pass Him by. And He was saying, "Abba! Father! All things are possible for You; remove this cup from Me; yet not what I will, but what You will." We should not be surprised He took Peter, James and John knew His sorrow and suffering, why wouldn't He choose them to see His glory?
Verse 2, "And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light." We do not know any other details, other than His body was transformed; the glory inside Him was unveiled, all we know is this is a supernatural event. "His face shone like the sun," it was blazing like the sun at high noon, this same Jesus they had seen every day was suddenly dazzling, glowing with all the brilliance of the sun. I believe this is the greatest testimony to who Jesus Christ is in the entire Bible, the very essence of the Shekinah of God manifesting Himself in a blazing light. Shekinah never descends below, always from above. This is God supernaturally revealing Himself. If you look in the Old Testament, God manifests Himself in blazing light, pillars of fire, a brilliant cloud. His invisible Spirit essence, it is manifest as light. This is a marvelous a preview of Jesus Christ in terms of Matthew 25:31, "But when the Son of Man comes in His glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne." There can be no doubt about who He is!
When Jesus came into the world, He took the veil of humanity and in His transfiguration, He pulls that veil back for a moment to reveal essence of His nature. He is God, clothed in glory. That’s exactly what you see here. Do not ever let anyone try tell you Jesus isn’t God.
Verse 3, "And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him." Moses and Elijah appeared in a very glorious manner. This is incredible! What Peter, James, and John are seeing is not only beyond their comprehension, they are also hearing it. A conversation between Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Moses is synonymous with Old Testament, his leadership is unequaled. He was the human instrument through whom God gave the law. In the minds of the Jews, he was the greatest man of all men.
Luke 9 says "And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and gleaming. And behold, two men were talking with Him; and they were Moses and Elijah, who, appearing in glory, were speaking of His departure which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem."
Elijah guarded the law, he fought against the nation’s idolatry. He was a man of zeal for God, He spoke bold words of profound judgment. He died not, but was carried soul
and body to heaven. The sufferings and death
of Christ were what Moses and the prophets had foretold. Who could stand with Jesus, except Moses and Elijah? Jesus said, "I have come to fulfill the law and the prophets," coming and gathering around Him, standing in His glory and saying, the appearance of these two with
Christ, was to illustrate that Christ is the end of the law and
prophets, that there is agreement between Him and them. It is the affirmation. Peter, James and John needed to see that, because they couldn’t understand how Christ's death fit their messianic program. Here is Moses and Elijah saying "We’re on schedule."
I've been asked, "How came the
disciples to know these two to be Moses and Elias, since they never
saw them before?" I believe the answer is simple, it was revealed to them by divine revelation. The same way that Peter knew Jesus was the Messiah. Allow me read Peter's confession in Matthew 16, "Simon Peter answered, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God." And Jesus said to him, "Blessed are you, Simon Barjona, because flesh and blood did not reveal this to you, but My Father who is in heaven."
Verse 4, " Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." You've got to love Peter, I mean right in the middle of all this glory and majesty and splendor, he brings us right back to reality as only he can. "If You wish, I will make three tabernacles here, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah." We don;t know why he says the things he does, I mean, how do you put glory in a tabernacle? Obviously, Peter never had an experience like this, I'm sure he must've been dumbfounded. I believe once again, he was trying to be helpful and just said whatever came out of his mouth. This is so comforting for the rest of us, who open our mouths and insert our foot.
So, in verse 5, right in the middle of Peter's proposal, before an
answer could be given to him, God interrupts him. I believe this is God's way of saying, "Peter, be quiet, this is not the time for ridiculous suggestions." Peter obviously didn’t understand that this was only a preview, that Jesus still had to suffer and die. "While he was still speaking, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, "This is My beloved Son, with whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!" The voice of the Father; directs him and his fellow
disciples, to attend only to Jesus, and not to Moses and Elijah. Luke
adds, "And they feared as they entered into the cloud." This
cloud was a symbol of the
divine presence. So, the testimony of Jesus Christ comes from the transformation of the Son and the testimony of the saints.
Verse 6, "When the disciples heard this, they fell face down to the ground and were terrified." As we can imagine, when they heard God's voice out of the cloud,they were filled with fear and fell with their faces, yet at the same time, filled with much
amazement. Deuteronomy 5:24-26, "You said, ‘Behold, the Lord
our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His
voice from the midst of the fire; we have seen today that God speaks
with man, yet he lives. Now then why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die. For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?" They rightly understood that God was there, that why Peter said "Lord, it is good for us to be here." In other words, this is the best thing that ever happened to them.
Verse 7, "And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, "Get up, and do not be afraid." The disciples were some distance from Christ, but He,
observing the fear and surprise they were in, came to their
relief. I believe He said something like; "This is not the voice of an angry God, but of God well pleased with Me. Be of good courage, there's nothing to fear."
Verse 8 tells us "And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus Himself alone." The Mosaic economy was now finished and completed. There's no doubt this was an experience they would never forget, as long as they lived. Not only was the glory of God dwelling among them, but the Father spoke. I can almost hear Peter saying, "Just wait till Andrew hears this, I got to get down this hill."
But in verse 9, Jesus squashes that idea, "As 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." Christ strictly ordered Peter,
James, and John, not to speak of what
things they had seen; Moses and Elijah, the bright cloud
that overshadowed them and Christ being transfigured in a glorious manner right before their eyes. Mark 9 says, "They seized upon that statement, discussing with one another what rising from the dead meant." Why would He tell them not to say anything about it? Because if they wait until after the resurrection, they’ll know that He didn’t come to conquer the Roman; He came to conquer death, sin and hell. So, they weren’t to say anything. Luke says the
disciples strictly observed this order, "they kept it close" to themselves.
Seeing Elijah on the mountain, sort of triggers in their minds Malachi 4:5-6, "Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse." In verse 10, they bring it up; "And His disciples asked Him, "Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?" I’m convinced that the religious leaders must have questioned them on that. "How can this Jesus be the Messiah when there has yet been no Elijah?" In other words, if there’s not been an Elijah, how can He be the Messiah? In fact, some Jews thought He could be Elijah getting things ready for the Messiah, but He couldn’t be the Messiah if there's been no Elijah.
The Scribes made use of this popular view, Elijah has to come first to disprove Jesus as being the
Messiah. If Jesus was the Messiah, then Elias would have
come, right? They saw Elijah as the preparer, the restorer and the Messiah would come to control it.
In verses 11-12, "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 wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands." Before the establishing of the kingdom, Elijah will come. The He says "Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him," He refers not to the late appearance of Elijah on the mount, but the one who came in his power
and spirit, the forerunner to the Messiah. An Elijah-like prophet, but they rejected him. Christ takes this opportunity to confirm what He had previously said concerning His sufferings and death. As sure as John the Baptist had suffered, "So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands."
That brings us to verse 13, "Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist." This was confirmation of
the truth of His Messiahship. No, John the Baptist was not Elijah, but he was one who came in the spirit and power of Elijah. So, before Jesus comes again, there will be another great prophet, who will come in the spirit and power of Elijah to set things right. And following him will come the Lord Jesus Christ, in all of His majesty and glory.
In Closing..
If they had listened to John the Baptist and believed him, he would have fulfilled that Elijah prophecy. Because they rejected him doesn’t mean he wasn’t that fulfilling the role of Elijah. That's the only reason he couldn’t fully fulfill it was because they killed him along with Jesus, the Messiah. Christ will come again, until then you’re going to have to take up your cross and follow Him, that means you’re going to bear reproach, you’re going to suffer. Our great hope is if we suffer, we shall also reign with Him.
Beloved, no amount of suffering in this life is worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us in Christ. Behold His grace, we do not deserve to enter into heaven. Praise Him, He is worthy of our praise. Love Him for all He has already done, He died for our sins. Live for Him, with grateful hearts, by telling someone about Jesus.
May it be so..
And now may the Lord bless you and keep you;
the Lord make His face shine upon you,
And be gracious to you;
The Lord lift up His countenance upon you,
And give you peace.
Now and forever, in Jesus' name
Amen