Matthew 17.1-8 Mark 9.2-8 Luke 9.28-36

http://biblehub.com/parallelgospels/The_Transfiguration_of_Jesus_.htm

The mount of transfiguration was a very unique event in the life of Jesus on earth.  It was an opportunity for Jesus to reveal His glory to a select group of His disciples as a sort of preview of the kingdom that is to come.  There has been a sort of tension between the disciples’ expectation of a glorious kingdom and Jesus’s explanation of His suffering and death.  It is that tension between the realities of the first and second comings of Jesus that could be easily confused.  Jesus has been emphasizing His suffering while the disciples have been waiting for the establishment of the kingdom.  Jesus promotes this experience to demonstrate that their expectation is not a wrong one by giving them a glimpse of His glory and a small taste of what the kingdom will be like.

A WONDERFUL EXPERIENCE: Jesus calls Peter, James and John to come up the mountain with Him to pray.  While they are praying, the disciples are struggling with sleep when they witness this wonderful experience.  Jesus is transfigured in front of them in the sense that His glory was physically visible to them.  His clothes and face shined and Moses and Elijah showed up in bodily form and were talking with Jesus.  The three disciples were suddenly wide awake.  This is a sort of preview of what things will be like in the kingdom that the disciples are so looking forward to.  The glory of Jesus will be visible for all to see.  The saints from the Old Testament will be ruling and reigning with Christ as will the saints from the New Testament as represented by the three disciples.  Peter, as usual, is the one who breaks the awe and silence of the moment by blurting out a suggestion that they create a monument for each of the three men to commemorate this special event.  This was the kind of experience that the disciples were expecting when they started following Jesus.  They were likely hoping that this would be a permanent reality.  Jesus is showing them that their expectations are not unfounded but that they are a little premature.  There is a mission to accomplish before this becomes a permanent reality.

A WORSHIPFUL EXPERIENCE: Peter’s suggestion of building three commemorative monuments is met with the Father’s voice coming from a bright cloud that suddenly appeared.  The Father simply repeated that Jesus was His son as He had previously declared at the baptism of Jesus and instructed the disciples to listen to Him.  Their immediate response was to fall down before the Lord and worship.  The presence of God is an awesome thing and we will have the privilege of experiencing during the kingdom and for all eternity.  Our response to this experience will be exactly like that of the disciples: worship.  It is what we were created to do.  Today we struggle to worship the way we should because all of the distractions and idols that clutter our hearts and minds.  When sin is eternally wiped away from our hearts and we stand in the presence of God the Father and see the glorified Son of God; we will worship Him in sprit and truth.  Jesus comes to them and comforts their fears as He stands alone before them.  We are worshipers and find our greatest joy when we worship God.  Sin has separated us from God and made our worship difficult and inconsistent.  One day, because of Christ’s first coming to pay sins price, all of that sin will be completely wiped away and we will be able to worship His perfectly.  That is His second coming for which we anxiously wait.


APPLICATION: Be encouraged by the promise of the kingdom of God and the glory of Jesus being revealed to us at the second coming of Christ.  Strive to keep the distractions of this world keep us from that which we were created to do: worship.  Thank God for the promise of His coming and live in light of it every moment of every day.

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