A Glimpse of Glory: The Transfiguration of Jesus

Is Peter placing Jesus on equal standing with Elijah and Moses? Does he think that up on a mountain in isolation is where God wants His workers? Peter was so excited and scared he just had to say something. His mind would only catch up with his words after the cross and the resurrection. We will never understand the person and work of Christ apart from the cross and resurrection. Leave them out, and He is at best a moralist and at worst a self-destructive fool. Leave out the cross, and there is no atonement. Leave out the resurrection, and there is no victory over sin. In sinful weakness we would avoid the cross, stay on the mountain, and make ourselves comfortable. In contrast Jesus will embrace the cross, ascend Calvary’s hill, and drink the cup of suffering filled with the wrath of God.

Suddenly a cloud, God’s shekinah glory cloud, overshadows or envelops them (cf. Exod 40:35; 1 Kgs 8:10-11). We do not need man-made tents (v. 5). Rather, we need the presence of the living God, who now speaks words that thunder with authority and are pregnant with meaning: “This is My beloved Son; listen to Him!”

The statement recalls Jesus’ baptism (1:11). It calls to mind Deuteronomy 18:15, where Moses says God will send His prophet and “You must listen to him.” This is God’s beloved, one-of-a-kind Son. We are to listen to Him and only Him. When the cloud disappears, Elijah and Moses vanish, and “Jesus alone” remains. Moses and Elijah were great revealers of truth along with all the other prophets, but the voice of God commands us182 to listen to His Son, Jesus. Give Him your ears. Have eyes only for Him (Heb 12:2). He can give you what neither Moses nor Elijah could ever give. This is God’s perspective on the matter!

Mark 9:9-13

The three disciples have learned that despite His earthly, outward appearance, Jesus is God. The transfiguration has proven that beyond any reasonable question.

But might the transfiguration mean Jesus could triumph without the cross? Might the Messiah enter into His glory and establish His kingdom in power now, given the breathtaking display they had just witnessed?

Who says the cross must come before the crown? Jesus does. What He has just experienced has not weakened His resolve to go to Calvary. It has emboldened Him to go and drink the last drop of the cup of divine wrath in the place of unworthy and helpless sinners.

The disciples are commanded to tell no one what they had seen “until the Son of Man had risen from the dead” (see 8:31). This is our Lord’s last command to silence and the only one that receives a time limitation. After the resurrection, proclamation will be the order of the day!

The “Son of Man” title appeared only twice in the first half of Mark (2:10, 28). Now it will occur with great regularity, especially in the context of His suffering (8:31; 9:9, 12; 10:33, 45; 14:21, 41). The title hearkens back to the heavenly man of Daniel 7:13-14:

Jesus is the coming Lord of glory who will inherit a universal and everlasting kingdom. But first He will suffer and die.

The three disciples kept questioning one another about what “rising from the dead” meant. They had a place in their theology for such a doctrine, but it was expected to take place at the end of the age.

The presence of Moses and Elijah at the transfiguration, references to resurrection from the dead, and the recognition that Jesus is the Messiah would constitute a compelling argument that the end of the age is near. It prompts a question in the disciples’ mind: “Why do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”

Jesus makes a surprising connection. “‘Elijah does come first and restores everything,’ He replied. ‘How then is it written about the Son of Man that He must suffer many things and be treated with contempt?’” Wow! They did not see that one coming! The same divine Scriptures that predicted the coming of Elijah prior to the Day of the Lord also predicted a suffering Messiah. How did they miss Psalms 16; 22; 110; Isaiah 52:13-53:12? Read the whole of the Old Testament in light of Genesis 3:15, and all of it unfolds from there. The Son of Man will suffer, be treated with contempt, be killed, and then rise from the dead.

As for Elijah, he has come in the person of John the Baptist (see Matt 17:12-13). They rejected his message and killed him. They will do the same with Jesus. John fulfilled the assignment given to him by God, and so would our Lord. God would faithfully see them through their suffering and greatest hours of trial! Might we not be able to trust Him to do the same for us?!

Why was Jesus gloriously transfigured? Why did the God who came incognito momentarily yet unmistakably reveal His true identity and nature?

The British preacher Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “The Son of God became man that the children of men might become children of God” (God the Father, 265). Jesus Christ is the hero of the Bible—God in a body, the Savior of sinners, the final sacrifice, and the glory of God made flesh. He took the three disciples up a mountain for a glimpse of glory. He wants to take you and me up to heaven to glory forever. Will you follow Him? Will you trust Him? You become what you behold! May we all behold Jesus now and forever.