A Glimpse of Glory: The Transfiguration of Jesus

While His glory is being displayed in brilliant light, Elijah and Moses appear, talking to Jesus. Luke says in Luke 9:31 they “were speaking of His death.” The word for “death” in the Greek text is “exodus”! Jesus would lead the people of God out of the bondage of sin in a new exodus through His death (a new Passover) and resurrection, and He would constitute a new people called the church.

Elijah and Moses represent the Law and the Prophets. They were both great deliverers. Together they represent the prophetic tradition that points to the Messiah. Their appearance draws from Malachi 4:4-6:

Remember the instruction of Moses My servant, the statutes and ordinances I commanded him at Horeb for all Israel. Look, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome Day of the Lord comes. And he will turn the hearts of fathers to their children and the hearts of children to their fathers. Otherwise, I will come and strike the land with a curse.

With their appearing, the Law and Prophets are signaled as being fulfilled in the coming of Messiah who has brought the kingdom of God near (cf. Mark 1:15).

This is not Mount Sinai all over again. No, this is a gospel mountain, not a law mountain. Here the law of God and the grace of God converge in the One who is God incarnate and the fulfillment of all the Old Testament promised. Look at Him and believe His gospel.

Mark 9:5-8

In these verses only two persons speak: Peter and God the Father. Jesus does not say a word. He doesn’t need to! Peter’s words we can set aside and even excuse in light of his fear (v. 6) and his being suddenly awakened from a nap (Luke 9:32). We must hear the Father’s words and heed them. Our spiritual lives depend on it.

The disciples understandably are amazed and “terrified” at the revelation of the glorified Christ. Peter says, “It is good we are here.” You think?! He then suggests that this mountaintop summit should be continued and he, James, and John will gladly construct three tents for Jesus and the honored guests from the past.

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:

I continued watching in the night visions, and I saw One like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was escorted before Him. He was given authority to rule, and glory, and a kingdom; so that those of every people, nation, and language should serve Him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and His kingdom is one that will not be destroyed.

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.