The Glory of Transfiguration 2Ki 2:1-12; Ps 50:1-6; 2 Cor 4:3-6; Mark 9:2-9 8.2.21
Introduction
The focus of today’s readings is the transfiguration, when Jesus’ whole being shone with the radiance and glory of God. Compared to other high points in the saving life of Christ, like his baptism, death, resurrection, ascension and Second Coming, this event is often downsized by the Church. Properly understood in the light of eternity, because of its multiple levels of meaning and deep connections across the whole Bible, the transfiguration concentrates the glory of all the phases of Christ’s life and makes it a “gospel in miniature/microcosm.” (Trites).
Shadows of Glory
The riches of the Old Testament revelation foreshadow the splendour of the transfiguration. When the psalmist speaks excitedly, “Out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God shines forth.” (Ps 50:2), he sees Jerusalem as the one city God the Great King has chosen for his glory to dwell (Ps 48:2; Matt 5:35). We know this King is Jesus, something that will soon after the transfiguration event be publicly unveiled in the depths of the beauty of Jesus humbly riding into Jerusalem on a donkey on his way to the triumph of the cross (Isa 33:17; Mark 11:9-10).
Moses and Elijah appear speaking with Jesus because they represent the glory of the Law and the prophets. Malachi had prophesied their presence before “the great and dreadful day of the Lord” arrives (Mal 4:4-5), would turn Israel to the way of righteousness saving the land from God’s wrath. The presence of Moses and Elijah was a part of an intense apocalyptic/end times atmosphere. No doubt their glory was an enablement for the humanity of the Son of God (Heb 4:15) to press on to finish his saving ministry. These witnesses from the cloud of glory provide something for Jesus far beyond what his faith-poor disciples could ever give (cf. Heb 12:1).]
A deep communion is going on between Moses, Elijah and Jesus. Both prophets went through hard phases in their calling when they implored God to take away their lives because the burden of carrying the people was overwhelming (Num 11:15; 1 Ki 19:4). Soon, in Gethsemane, Jesus will share with his disciples a similar sentiment, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,’ (14:34). Jesus will never ask for death, but like the old prophets he feels he is already being crushed by carrying away the sin of the world (John 1:29). Despite being men who knew the voice of the Lord and the richness of the cloud of glory (Ex 24; 2 Ki 2:1), Moses failed to enter the Promised Land and Elijah fled in fear from the wicked queen Jezebel before being taken up to heaven (1 Ki 19:3ff.), the transfiguration contains a higher note because it is prophetic not only of Jesus’ death but of his final glorification.
The Transfiguration of Jesus
The transfiguration story is embedded in Mark’s vision of the coming of the just rule to put everything right. Immediately before the scene on the mountain Jesus has emphasised that following him means taking up the cross and losing one’s own life (Mark 8:34-37). The Lord will be ashamed of those who refuse this way of discipleship when returns “in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.” (Mark 8:38). It is in this context that Christ said, “there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.” There is a strong emphasis on “seeing” at the transfiguration (Mark 9:1, 4, 9) because seeing, naturally or supernaturally, qualifies us to bear witness. What the disciples saw at the transfiguration was an insight into the coming power and glory of Christ which will fully appear at the Second Coming. Such wonderful eternal glory was grounded in the very down to earth reality of suffering.
Peter tells us in his first letter that the old covenant prophets had made careful inquiry by the Spirit, (into) “the (coming) sufferings of Christ and his subsequent glory” (1 Pet 1:10-11). And Luke’s account of the transfiguration tells us Moses and Elijah were discussing with Jesus his “departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem.” (9:31). At the time of their talking with Jesus this “accomplishment”, or more literally, “exodus” in Greek, was as prophetically real in the Spirit to Elijah, Moses and Jesus as any other great saving in the gospel plan of God (Eph 3:-9). Even those which are yet future even to us.
As we know this departure meant crucifixion before glorification. It is only the suffering to death for resurrection of Jesus (Luke 24:26) that made it possible for Moses, Elijah and finally us, to pass from earth into heavenly glory.
To put all this slightly differently, Moses and Elijah were discussing the gospel with Jesus [ this makes the transfiguration a “gospel in miniature”]. The glory radiating on the mountain was a flashforward to the glory of all that Jesus would achieve through his suffering and resurrection in saving a vast multitude to be with God in eternity (Rev 7:9) in a new creation (Rev 21:5). All the glory of the God is concentrated in the message we call the gospel, because the gospel is essentially the testimony of who Jesus is.
Moses and Elijah were privileged in seeing before them the reality for which they had lived their lives. The watching disciples were privileged to “see” in advance of the resurrection that the suffering of the way of the cross is not worth comparing to the endless splendour coming to all the faithful children of God (Rom 8:18). The transfiguration was an act of the heavenly Father pledging to Jesus by the presence of Elijah, Moses and his cloud of glory what will be his as King and Judge at the Second Coming (Mark 13:26; 14:62; Acts 1:9-11; Rev 1:7). Unlike his illustrious forebears, Jesus will perfectly accomplish his exodus/departure from Jerusalem (Luke 9:31) by the giving up of nothing less than his own life (John 19:30). What does all this mean for us?
Witnessing to the Son
Seeing Christ’s glorious transformation meant that the disciples “were terrified” (Mark 9:6). They were plunged into the sort of fear and astonishment Moses experienced at Mt Sinai (Heb 12:21) or when Elijah shielded his face from the divine tempest on the same holy mountain (1 Ki 19:13 cf. Ex 3:6). Their “terror” was akin to “the trembling and astonishment’ that “seized” the women at the empty tomb of Jesus when the angel spoke of his resurrection (Mark 16:8). Such fear is a healthy and proportional response to the intense uncontrollable supernatural presence of the Lord. It has a single purpose, testimony.
The climax of the transfiguration story comes when, “a voice came out of the cloud, “This is my beloved Son; listen to him.” (Mark 9:7). Moses and Elijah were ancient prophetic witnesses to Jesus, the apostles were eyewitnesses of Christ’s majesty glory (2 Pet 1:1- 17) but the only witness that finally counts is the heavenly Father. The Father’s voice, “listen to him” echoes a prophecy that the Lord would raise up a prophet like Moses to whom Israel must listen lest they be destroyed (Deut 18:15-19). Moses was but a mere servant of the Lord but as the final Prophet Jesus was the beloved the Son of God (Heb 3:1-6). Beyond his mortal human nature (Heb 2:14-15) Jesus was one with the inner glory of God. It was this glory radiating with the splendour and beauty of eternity (Heb 1:1-3) that was manifested at the transfiguration. There the apostles witnessed nothing less than a last days revelation whereby the Father personally put his stamp and seal (John 1:33; 6:27; Heb 1:3) on Jesus as his appointed coming King and Judge of all (Mark 13:26; 14:62; Acts 1:9-11; Rev 1:7). As prophesied in the second psalm (Ps 2:7-8) the “beloved Son” will fulfil God’s promise [to him] to rule over all the rebellious nations of the world.
At that glorious mountain, the disciples should have understood that to listen to Jesus was to hear the voice not only of a man but of the Creator of all things (John 1:3; 1 Cor 8:6; Heb 1:2). To hear the voice of Jesus was to hear the one for whom they themselves came into being (Col 1:16). Amazingly, when the disciples saw Jesus in the glory of his Father, they were given a vision of their own all-beautiful radiant future. As Christ has promised, at his Second Coming “the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father” (Matt 13:43 cf. Dan 12:3). The Day is advancing when we will all shine with the righteousness of Christ (1 Cor 1:30) and when the one eternal glory contained in Father, Son and Spirit will be distributed fully to all the children of God (John 17:22; 1 John 3:2). These are great heavenly realities, but they have radical implications now. Here our reading from 2 Corinthians is most helpful.
Glory Resisted and Revealed
2 Corinthians 4 outlines a scenario of the most intense spiritual conflict (cf. 2 Cor 10:1-6). “the god of this world (i.e., the devil) has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ” (4:4 cf. Acts 26:18; Col 1:13). Satan has completely disabled the fallen human mind (cf. Rom 8:7) so that it cannot comprehend the things of God. The plan of God to heal this profound spiritual disability is to release his transfiguring presence into the world through his people. Paul testifies, “For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” (2 Cor 4:6 cf. Acts 13:47). When Jesus comes to live in our hearts (Eph 3:17 cf. Rom 10:8) the transfiguration glory comes to reside in here. Whatever the devil has done to blind the minds of sinners cannot resist the testimony of a Spirit -filled people in whose hearts Christ’s glory lives.
If this is true, and it is, why is it that after the wondrous experience of seeing Jesus transfigured the disciples all fell away on the threshold of the cross (Mark 14:27)? The answer is simple but profound, at the transfiguration the glorified Christ was not yet living inside the disciples, they were not yet, before the death, resurrection, ascension and gift of the Spirit spiritually alive inside the cloud of glory. In Christ we have joined them there (Eph 1:3; 2:6).
The transfiguration glory doesn’t just sit in our hearts passively, as the glory of God did in Solomon’s temple. The glory of the Lord Jesus draws us into the shape of his life so the glory might be released into the world. The call to discipleship is to follow Jesus in the way of sonly obedience to the point of death so we are transfigured from one degree of glory to another (2 Cor 3:18). As we grow in the likeness of Christ in his fully perfected humanity we are empowered to bear witness to his saving identity through lives whose authority is as endless as the glory of the Lord (Eph 3:21; Heb 13:21; 1 Pet 4:11; Jude 2; Rev 5:13). In an era when the influence of Christianity has been in decline in Australia for decades, only the transfiguring power of the gospel can drive back the power of darkness]
Conclusion
In returning to preach once again on the transfiguration I am more convinced than ever that it is one of the most prophetic stories in Jesus. Not in the sense of a chronological prediction so beloved of popular interest in prophecy, but because of all it contains inside the glory of its record of who Jesus is yesterday, today and forever (Rev 13:8). Since “the testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of prophecy” (Rev 19:10) God has left us this story to equip us as witnesses to Christ. This is very clear from a testament written decades after Jesus had returned to heaven.
The end of a person’s life often reflects what was most important to them. Towards the end of his life the apostle Peter wanted to leave his flock (2 Pet 1:12-15) a reminder of godly truths. In pointing to the prophetic word (2 Pet 1:18) confirming God’s “very great and precious promises” (2 Pet 1:4) Peter did not point to the miracles of Jesus, nor to the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost. No, he emphasised God the Father’s testimony to the glory, power, majesty, dominion and authority of his Son that he had personally witnessed at the transfiguration (2 Pet 1:1-18). On the threshold of his own entry into eternity Peter knew that on holy mountain the distance between earth and heaven (cf. Rev 5:13) had been bridged in Jesus. Before his own eyes he had seen Jesus fully sharing “the divine nature” which by grace will also be our destiny (2 Pet 1:4) when the Lord of glory returns to make us just like himself (Rom 8:29; 2 Cor 3:18; Phil 3:21; 1 John 3:2). The transfiguration is indeed a “gospel in miniature/microcosm”, The beautiful awesome power of the Lord on that mountain was a flashforward to the first witnesses, and through scripture to us, of an eternity that is ours and whose glory is beyond all comparison (Rom 8:18). The glory in the everlasting gospel (Rev 14:6) will transfigure the passing condition of this world (1 Cor 7:31) into a new creation that can never be destroyed (1 Cor 15:53-58) and in following Jesus, whatever the cost, we will all be a part of it.
Peter, James and John were sovereignly counted worthy by the Father to be witnesses of the mmajesty of Christ (2 Pet 1:16) and we have too, whatever we may think about ourselves. This comes out most clearly in John’s account in the book of Revelation of the two end-time witnesses (11:3) who give “testimony” (11:7) through their prophesying and working the miracles of Moses and Elijah (11:6 cf. Ex 7:14-21; 11:1; 1Ki 17:1, 7; 18:1, 41-45). As they are symbolically “lampstands” (11:4), in the symbolic world of Revelation (1:12,20) they are the Church. In their/our preaching, signs and wonders, slaughter by the beast, resurrection and ascension into heaven (11:7ff.) they/we recapitulate the life-story of Jesus. To do this is nothing less than the meaning of our lives. So, with hearts thrilled (cf. Isa 60:5) at such a great calling let us join Moses, Elijah, the disciples and a great host of witnesses (Heb 12:1) in communicating Christ to the world.