Transfiguration
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After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
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The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”
13 Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. 14 He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.”
15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16 and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. 17 To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. 18 Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Awesome is a common expressive word today. I give my daughter a lift to shops – ‘awesome’, she said, I gave my son-in-law a bowl of soup - ‘awesome’ he said.
A truly awesome moment in your life will leave you speechless, lost in wonder, soaking up the moment or the revelation as realisation dawns that God is mysterious and reaches out to us, saying "This is my Son. Listen to Him!"
The Transfiguration was truly awesome!
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After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3 Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
4 Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.”
5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, “Don’t tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”
Our reading in Matthew 17 begins:
‘Jesus was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light..’
I had a personal transfiguration when I was in the Holy land. I visited the Dead Sea and my wife in her wisdom decided to cover me in dead sea mud which was good for my skin. Spoiler warning, I have a skin complaint ‘eczema’ and this mud effect on my skin made me glow, I was bright red, luminous and sore as well. I had to be hosed down with fresh water. It was a fake transfiguration! Nothing compared to the experience of Peter James and John as they went for a mountain walk with Jesus as recorded in Matthew 17.
Preachers struggle to bring meaning and pointers from this passage but Theologian and preacher Dr Fred Craddock, suggests that it is better to "hold this text before the listeners in (its) full extraordinariness rather than reduce (it) to fit the contour of our experiences. It is better to be led to the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration, to be helped to sense its significance on Jesus and the three apostles, and to be left there for a while in awe of its mystery and power. Such an experience might finally influence life in more ways and in more depth than interpretations that reduce the text to lessons that assume `this is the way life is for us today.'" Dr Craddock seems to be saying, "Tell the story, Jesus is Jesus, and we are, after all, just us."
The transfiguration was so awesome and had so much meaning for those three disciples and for us. I suggest we look at unpacking the meaning in three headings
The Meaning of Jesus: Dazzling White
The Meaning of Moses Elijah
The Meaning of the Chosen Three (and for us)
‘His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light’
The Meaning of Jesus: Dazzling White
What is the meaning of the supernatural brightness of Jesus (3-4) and the descent of a cloud (7)? Jesus Dazzling white shows the disciples who were invited up the Mountain that he is more than a good man, more than a Rabbi he is divine, God incarnate. Notice the dazzling emanated from him, unlike the time when Moses’ face glowed having been in God’s presence when he received the 10 Commandments on Mount Sinai.
Exodus 24:14-17:
“14 the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.” 15 When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it 16 and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai…. 17 To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.
Jesus’ dazzling echoes the Glory of the Lord represented by cloud and bright light.”
The transfiguration of Jesus can be none other than the glory of God from within him. The Lord Jesus is Lord God (one and the same). Remember Daniel 7:9 also describes the Son of Man as having dazzling white clothes.
As the voice said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him, I am well pleased. Listen to him!”
They are not really “listening” to him. Remember, the context of the transfiguration is Peter’s rebuke of Jesus (see Matthew 16:22). Peter didn’t Get Jesus’ idea of Messiahship. The Transfiguration is a literally dazzling effort to break through their deafness so they can truly “hear” what he is saying to them. The penny dropped with Peter later that Jesus’ transfiguration was his majestic glory as he reminisced in (2 Peter 1:16-18.)
“We were with him on the mountain and the voice came out of the Majestic Glory”
To believe and follow Christ, we must listen to him. But we mustn’t think we have truly “listened” to Jesus just because we say we believe. Peter and the other disciples were followers of Christ, but they still didn’t really hear and understand what he was saying. We mustn’t just believe who he is, but we must study and listen to his Word, accepting we are not “getting” it all.
The Meaning of Moses Elijah
“When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai.”
People ask me why is Jesus all-important to the Christian faith, and we have it here, in a nutshell, the law and the prophets of old were pointing forward to a person, not a religion, not a belief, not a way of living but a relationship with a person, first and foremost Christianity is about Christ.
In the Transfiguration, we have the two key representatives of the Old Testament Moses and Elijah appearing with Jesus 'speaking about his death to come at Jerusalem' (God's Salvation plan). This meeting with Moses and Elijah would have given Jesus tremendous courage and inspiration for the ordeal that lay ahead of him carry out the ‘plan’ and go to Jerusalem and Calvary and die for you and I.
Both Moses (Exodus 31:18; 33:18) and Elijah (1 Kings 19:8) had revelations of the glory of God on mountains. But in the Transfiguration they speak to the glorified Jesus, meaning Jesus is the one to whom all the Law and the Prophets pointed. The presence of Elijah (4) tells us that Jesus is the fulfilment of all the Old Testament prophesies.
Fulfilling the prophecies may be obvious but he also fulfils the law (represented by Moses) by obeying it perfectly. He fulfils all the tabernacle laws completely, for he is the sacrifice, the High priest, and the tabernacle himself.
Remember on Mount Sinai immediately after giving the Law, God had them make a tabernacle Holy of Holies where his presence could dwell in their midst.
“Then have them make a sanctuary for me, and I will dwell among them.” — Exodus 25:8
The presence of God was represented by a glory cloud in the Holy of Holies, and a dazzling light called the “shekinah.” Matthew 17 implies what John 1:14 says explicitly:
“The word became flesh and tabernacled among us…
and we beheld his glory.”
Jesus is the new tabernacle, through whom we experience the very presence of God.
Jesus is not only the glorious God but the one who offers himself as a sacrifice to cleanse us and bring us to God. He is a High priest sacrifice and the tabernacle.
The Old order (of Moses and Elijah) was fulfilled in the New Order and the New is all about a person Jesus Christ
“This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” —Matthew 17:5
The Meaning of the Chosen Three (and for us)
Remember, the context of the transfiguration is Matthew 16:21:
‘From that time on Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer… and be killed and on the third day be raised.’
Jesus’ suffering and his death was terrifying for them. Later, when Jesus Christ was captured and killed, it was impossible for them to imagine his glory to come. The Transfiguration gave them a glimpse of the incredible power and glory of the Messiah who was crucified. What they saw up the mountain gave them something to hold on to. They had heard 'this is my son' (again, they also heard it in Mark 1:11 - Jesus’ Baptism. This would stay with them forever. A real encouragement for the trials that lay ahead (Easter and throughout their lives).
We need this as much as the disciples. We are constantly in situations that are upsetting and challenge our faith. Prayers unanswered, people unbelieving, Bishops unresponsive. Yet the Transfiguration is a glimpse through the veil of difficulties in our lives. It says, “despite how it looks on the surface, Jesus is working in your life, in our church’s life and in the world. The power of the risen Saviour is here now to do great things, and it will, if we trust Him, triumph through all our trials and troubles.
Why were these men, Peter, James, and John
an inner circle within the disciples?
Peter loved him, John He loved, James the first disciple who was Martyred (slain by a sword). Jesus chose them to experience things from which they learned lessons (four different times).
On the raising of Jairus' daughter (Luke 8:51), they were singled out to witness.
On the Mount of Olives (Mark 13:3) he prophesied (his second coming — they were the first to hear it).
Gethsemane (Matthew 26:37) — they witnessed the suffering of Jesus).
Mount of transfiguration (Matthew 17:1) they got a glimpse of his glory.
I wonder what it would have been like to be (Peter, James or John). Did they feel special at being selected, did they wonder why not all twelve disciples? Just three went to the mountain top. It seems these three were intensely seeking Jesus, learning from him, feasting on every word he spoke. Maybe some of the others drifted in and out of their relationship with Jesus.
We don’t know why these three were singled out.
I find myself wanting to be one of those who want to seek & yearn for the Lord. I may seem intense, but I don’t want a part-time relationship with Jesus. Jesus blessed those who were fully devoted (glowed). When Moses came down from Mount Sinai after receiving the 10 Commandments, his face shone, radiant.
Just as the moon reflects the sun’s dazzling light we can be radiant because we come into his presence (in worship, prayer, bible study, in-service)
‘Those who look to Him are radiant.’ —Psalm 34:5
It’s easy to make our face glow through fake tan and facial treatments (like my Dead Sea experience!), but Matthew 5:14 says we are to reflect His light, He is the light (John:8:12) If we have Christ in our hearts and when walking daily with him in His Word, in prayer, in worship, in serving then we reflect the splendour of our Lord as we walk with him in this dark world.
The splendour of a King, clothed in majesty
Let all the Earth rejoice (x2)
He wraps himself in light
And darkness tries to hide
And trembles at His voice
Trembles at His voice
How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God
© Chris Tomlin
