We were not following cleverly written-up tales when we told you about the power and the appearing of Jesus Christ our Lord - we actually saw His majesty with our own eyes. He received honour and glory from God the Father Him-self when that voice said to us out of the sublime glory of Heaven, 'This is my beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.' We actually heard that awesome voice while we were with Him on the mountain."
So wrote Peter long years after that marvellous night when Jesus was transfigured. Clearly it carried immense conviction for him. It had the same effect that Paul's vision of Christ in His risen glory had on him. He did not so much believe Jesus was divine; he knew. The glory in which Jesus appeared was supernatural: a man's face shone "like the sun." His garments were, not lighted, but light.
Set the episode in its context.
1. It follows Peter's confession of
Jesus as the Son of God and the promised Messiah of Israel at
Cæsarea Philippi. No sooner had it dawned on him who Jesus
really was than Peter was privileged to behold His glory.
2. Just before Matthew records this event, he has shared with
us two statements Jesus made about His real identity:
(a) 16:27 "The Son of Man is to come with His angels in the glory of His Father." The phrase "in the glory of His Father" puts Jesus on the same level as God.
(b) 16:28 "Some here will not taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom."
Matthew, I believe, intends us to see that prediction of Jesus as having an immediate fulfilment in what followed. The three disciples on the mountain do see their Master as 'the Son of Man' clothed in kingly glory.
To anyone familiar with the Old Testament, as the disciples were, it is clearly reminiscent of Daniel's vision. (Dan. 7:13-14) Daniel saw a succession of four worldly rulers, historical rulers from his own era. Each of them was represented as some sort of beast, because their rule was harsh and tyrannical - 'beastly,' not humane. But then he was shown a vision of a fifth ruler, and he was not represented as a beast at all, but as "One like unto a son of man" because His rule was truly beneficent. Concerning this ruler, Daniel was shown that ...
a. "He came with the 'clouds of heaven'" (the Lord's phrase in v. 27),
b. "He was presented before the Ancient of Days" (God) because, obviously, He is God's choice of a king to rule the earth,
c. "Dominion and glory and kingdom was given to Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion which shall not pass away, and His Kingdom a Kingdom that shall not be destroyed."
This was Daniel's statement of the promise of the Messiah. Jesus quite clearly identifies Himself in v. 28 as the one who fulfils that promise: He is the 'Son of Man' (Daniel's phrase) who 'comes in His Kingdom.'
We must not be deterred by the fact that the Kingdom, as Jesus brings it in, does not produce immediate, universal righteousness. The teaching Jesus gave about the Kingdom, collated in ch. 13, alerted us to the fact that the Kingdom would not be fully manifest at once, but would for a long period of time be a hidden kingdom. In 13:41, e.g., 'His Kingdom' means the world over which Jesus will reign after His resurrection, and it is one in which good and evil remain side by side until the end of the age. So it was 'the King in the glory of His Kingdom' Whom the disciples beheld there on the holy mountain. In the sequel to this episode, the healing of the epileptic boy in the valley, the authority of the King is seen in its true colours: He wields his power, not to destroy and overthrow as earthly rulers do, but to heal and raise up. That is how the King God chooses puts forth His power.
For us who hear the story now, it means we should understand and accept that Jesus had all the authentication from God that is needed to convince us. We do not need to see the vision as the disciples saw it; all we need is to know that it was given.
Now notice that in Matthew's account of the Transfiguration the focus of attention is chiefly on the disciples. He does not dwell on the details of the Transfiguration the way the other gospels do; he gives the very briefest description of the supernatural glory that irradiated Jesus, and of the visitors from the realm of heaven who spoke with Him. Much more attention is given to what Peter said, to what the three disciples felt, to what they saw, to what they were told, and what they asked.
THE VISION
Concerning the marvel itself, we need say no more than we have already said, that it was clearly a manifestation of sheer, pure Godhood in the man Jesus of Nazareth in Galilee. Beyond all question, the thing was supernatural. The glory that shone from Jesus was a glory that was 'out of this world.'
THE VISITORS
The visitors from heaven who met Jesus on that marvellous threshold where the realm of heaven touched earth, Moses and Elijah, represent the two great points of focus in the revelation God had made of Himself in the past. Moses represents the Redemptive Deed of God in the Exodus and the Ten Words of God in the Law. Elijah represents the great deed of God by which He authenticated Himself as the God of all the earth when He brought down fire from heaven on Mount Carmel, and the prophetic word by which He continually made known His will. In the simple fact that they came to Jesus on the Mountain, and His glory there outshone theirs, we are to see that He is greater than they, and that His ministry is the fulfilment of all which theirs foreshadowed.
Jesus is God's 'last word' on everything.
That is made very clear in the second thing that happened.
God's presence is made known in the appearance of a cloud (as it had been at Mt Sinai) and of a supernatural light (as it had been in the Desert Sanctuary, where the Shekinah had 'overshadowed' the Holy of Holies, just as the light 'over-shadowed' the disciples now on the mountain). The cloud and the supernatural light are both symbols of God's real personal presence. And as at Mt Sinai, the disciples "see God under no form, they hear only a voice." (Deut. 4:12) But the voice authenticates Jesus as God's beloved Son and bids them heed Him. This too is a fulfilment. In Deut. 18:15, 19 Moses said, "The Lord God will raise up from among you a prophet like me - Him you shall heed" ... "Listen to Him." Jesus is 'that prophet'; He is the 'Son of Man' to whom divine rule is entrusted; He is the promised Messiah. He is all that the people of God had looked for. He is all that still.
Peter is shown making the blunder we fallen creatures are so prone to make. We want to put Him on the same level as all the rest, and not acknowledge His truly exalted status ... and therefore His title to rule us. We too, like Peter, want to make three booths, one for Moses, one for Elijah, (or one for Buddha, one for Mohammed) and one for Jesus, so He is ranked no higher than the rest. And it will not do. When we say things like that, we are (as Mark said) like Peter; we simply do not know what we are talking about.
He is above all. That is underlined by v. 6: "They fell on their faces and were filled with awe." Jesus is the exalted Son of God, Who fully shares with God His Godhood. He stands in the place of God to our soul. Concerning His Son, God Himself says to us, "I will meet you in Him." It is in Jesus that we meet God.
And like the disciples, we all need His touch - v. 7. That also is reminiscent of Daniel's vision, for Daniel too received that touch: "Behold a hand touched me and set me trembling on my hands and knees, and he said, 'O Daniel, man greatly beloved, give heed and stand upright ...' and I stood up trembling." (Dan. 10:10-12) "Again, one having the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me." So Jesus touched them and said, "Rise and have no fear." (Dan. 10:18)
Now they must be prepared to carry the glory of that divine companionship with them back into the commonplace. They look up and "see no man, save Jesus only." He has assumed the ordinary appearance with which they have been familiar, but they know now that in His companionship they walk with God in the splendour of His power and authority. So may we.
As they came down from the mountain Jesus said to them: "Tell no-one the vision until the Son of Man is raised from the dead."
Why were they not to tell? Because if they had blathered about it then, they would both have said it wrong and got it wrong. As we saw above, they were still of a mind to see God only in terms of glory, might and triumph. But until they had learned to see Him revealed in the shame, the weakness and the apparent defeat of the Cross they would not 'see' God truly at all, so they would not be able to 'tell it how it is.' They would perpetuate a falsehood. Only when we have seen God Himself revealed in the Cross, suffering to bear away sin and open a fountain of cleansing for our defilement, have we seen Him at all. The light in which we want to see God does shine from the risen Christ. When we see it then it is the light of love's victory, and love is measured by two things: its capacity to give, and its capacity to suffer ... and not change.
If we have never sought, we seek Thee now;
Thine eyes burn through the dark, our only stars;
We must have sight of thorn-pricks on Thy brow,
We must have Thee, O Jesus of the scars.The heavens frighten us; they are too calm;
In all the universe we have no place.
Our wounds are hurting us; where is the balm?
Lord Jesus, by Thy scars, we claim Thy grace.If when the doors are shut, Thou drawest near,
Only reveal those hands, that side of Thine;
We know today what wounds are, have no fear,
Show us Thy scars, we know the countersign.The other gods were strong, but Thou wast weak;
They rode, but Thou didst stumble to a throne;
But to our wounds only God's wounds can speak,
And not a God has wounds, but Thou alone.Edward Shillito, quoted by William Temple, 'Readings in St John's Gospel' [MacMillan] p.385
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