Transfiguration of Jesus - Wikipedia
Jesus Talks with Moses and Elijah - Six days later, Jesus took Peter, James, and 22 While Jesus' followers were gathering in Galilee, he said to them, “The. The transfiguration of Jesus is an event reported in the New Testament when Jesus is At that point the prophets Elijah and Moses appear and Jesus begins to talk to of Jesus' exodus (εξοδον) which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. meets God: the meeting place for the temporal and the eternal, with Jesus. Sep 13, Moses' presence signified that in Jesus the shadows of the law were all fulfilled and now withdrawn. In Jerusalem men were still fighting, not.
Analysis of the Text The Transfiguration The central point of the first three verses focuses on one word—and indeed, this word is the center of the whole passage. For example, we use it to describe the change from a caterpillar to a butterfly.
Here then we have a complete change in the appearance or form of Jesus in the presence of the disciples. He now was brighter than the light, revealing His true glory to them. What is interesting to note in this word study is that we have here the reverse of the theme of Philippians 2, the kenosis.
There Paul says that Christ Jesus took on the form of a servant. Here, however, the Servant takes on the form of deity, revealing His glory. The same word is used by Paul in Romans There is to be a genuine change in the life of the believer.
Of course the New Testament also teaches that we shall be changed when we enter the presence of the Lord, we shall be glorified. In the transfiguration Moses and Elijah appear and talk with the Lord. Moses represents the Law, and Elijah the Prophets; Moses represents those who have died in the Lord, and Elijah those who have not.
Moses wrote the Law which anticipated the sacrificial atonement of the Messiah; Elijah was to come to prepare the hearts of the people for the coming of the Lord. Moses went up Mount Sinai and because he was with the Lord of Glory there, his face shone when he came back down; Elijah did not die, but was taken up to glory in the whirlwind and the chariot of fire.
They spoke of His coming death; but by the term the Bible uses we know they spoke of it as the fulfillment of the great deliverance in Egypt. The vision was then clear: Christ was revealed in His glory, and He was joined by Moses and Elijah to indicate that He was about to fulfill the Law and the Prophets, and that death cannot destroy the glory that will follow. Moses and Elijah were and are alive, and are glorified. The Response of Peter Matthew does not tell us why Peter said what he said, or comment on the suitability of the comment.
He simply reports the suggestion of Peter to make shelters, to celebrate the apparent fulfillment of the promises. Peter is in no way irreverent or self-willed.
It is not so much a response to Peter as it is a revelation that dominates everything that was happening and in a way completely overshadows whatever Peter thought or said. It was one thing to see Jesus transfigured, with His clothing and His appearance brighter than the sun—that was frightening to the disciples, as the other gospels tell us. But it was quite another thing to hear a voice from heaven confirming that Jesus was the Son of God. Peter had just made that confession; but now Peter heard it in a new light, as it were.
All of these ideas were being challenged by the religious leaders of the day, and questioned by the people. Now, this direct revelation confirmed their faith—and it surely encouraged Jesus as well as opposition had begun to mount and would increase. The experience on this mountain reflects the experience of Israel on Mount Sinai. But to ensure that this was indeed the Law of God that was to be obeyed, God spoke.Transfiguration of Jesus - Eternity in a Nutshell
The disciples, we read in Matthew 17, were terrified at this voice and fell on their faces. But the Lord Jesus came to them and comforted them. The revelation was not given to strike fear in the disciples, although all revelation should bring the response of fear and obedience because of the fact that the sovereign Lord of glory has made Himself known to us and has called us to obey.
But the revelation was given to the disciples to convince and to encourage and to strengthen them in their faith and obedience. Of course we are overwhelmed by it, by the thought of it. But at every turn the revelation of God confirms to us that Jesus is our Lord, that our faith is not in vain, that we need not live in fear, but that we should live by faith in Him. And a revelation of this kind provides us with another word from God about the hope of glory that lies ahead of us, no matter what we have to endure here on earth.
Only in Christ is there any hope of passing beyond the grave to glory. The Question about Elijah There is much more that could be said about the transfiguration and the revelation from heaven, but in this brief guide to Bible study we will have to move on. It could be treated as a separate narrative since there is enough to deal with abovebut since it is raised because of the appearance of Elijah, then it should probably be included in the discussion.
Transfiguration of Jesus
On the way down the mountain Jesus cautioned the disciples not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man was raised from the dead. The revelation of the transfiguration would be a prophetic revelation of the glory of Christ, and the resurrection from the dead would confirm what the transfiguration declared.
If news of the transfiguration spread prematurely, it would be misunderstood, and perhaps the many followers of Jesus would try to enthrone Him before He went up to Jerusalem to die for their sins. The disciples then want to know why the teachers say that Elijah was first to come. They had seen Christ in His glory; they had seen Moses and Elijah; but they were not to say anything about it until Jesus died and rose again.
The teaching about John in no way teaches re-incarnation.
But it was not yet time for the fulfillment of all things, and John did not turn the nation around, because He was captured and put to death. The point is that Jesus will also be seized and put to death. Jesus was telling the disciples that before the crown there was the cross. And both John and Jesus had to suffer at the hands of wicked people. There is no need to get into all the details of the Elijah prophecy again here. Review what was said in the Bible Study of Matthew There is yet more to be fulfilled at the time of the second coming when everything will be made right, and when Jesus will appear in glory see the vision of John in Rev.
Among other things, John must have had this event in mind. Here the three disciples saw the glory of the Lord Jesus, so that they knew He was the divine Son who came into the world.
They were still unclear about His death and resurrection, but afterward they would understand more fully the reason for this revelation on the mountain. Matthew tells this event to make the identity of Jesus Christ perfectly clear, because the rest of the gospel will focus on rising opposition, suffering and death.
But the transfiguration revealed that He is the Lord of Glory, that everything He did pleased the Father, and that He is the one to be obeyed. The glorious appearance and the voice from heaven left no doubt in the minds of the disciples. Several areas of application come to mind. First, the transfiguration itself instructs us as well as to the true nature of Jesus. But it also gives us a glimpse of what is yet to be, not only of His appearance in heaven, but our glorification as well.
Second, revelation demands a response. The natural instinct is fear and worship, falling on our faces before Him. But the practical continuation of our response comes at the divine instruction to listen to, i. The touch of the hand of Jesus was probably most re-assuring of this in the event. To talk with, discuss. From sun and laleo; to talk together, i.
Matthew 17 NCV - Jesus Talks with Moses and Elijah - Six - Bible Gateway
If we accept the narrative as a whole, it is legitimate to assume that, in the state of consciousness to which they had been raised, they were capable of a spiritual illumination which would reveal to them who they were who were thus recognising their Master's work and doing homage to His majesty. There was, it is obvious, a singular fitness in each case.
One was the great representative of the Law, which was a "school master" or "servant-tutor" see Note on Galatians 3: Of one it had been said that a "Prophet like unto him" should come in the latter days Deuteronomy The close of the ministry of each was not after the "common death of all men.
Both were associated in men's minds with the glory of the kingdom of the Christ. Another Jewish tradition predicts his appearance with that of Elijah. Their presence now was an attestation that their work was over, and that the Christ had come. It is significant that the word for "decease" exodos reappears in this sense once only in the New Testament, and then in close connection with a reference to the Transfiguration 2Peter 1: Pulpit Commentary Verse 3.
The exclamation, thrice repeated ver. They who now appeared were no delusive, imaginary figures, but real personages, objectively presented to the spectators, in such bodies as appertained to their condition. Luke adds, "who appeared in glory," radiant with the light which always accompanies heavenly visitors.
Why these two saints were chosen to be present on this momentous occasion may be explained by various considerations. Both these worthies experienced something unparalleled in their departure from this life. Elijah was taken up to heaven without dying; Moses died, indeed, but he was buried by God in an unknown grave, and his body was under the especial care of Michael the archangel see Jude 1: From the unseen world these were brought to do homage to the Messiah - Moses, a type of those blessed spirits who in Paradise await the final consummation, Elijah, a type of the saints who, after the resurrection, perfect in soul and body, shall enter into glory.
Here were the representatives of the Law and the prophets, the principal supporters of the old covenant, honouring him who was introducing the new covenant, which was to fulfil and supersede the previous one.
Spurious, degraded Judaism rejected Christ's claims; real, orthodox Judaism acknowledged him and reverenced him as the Christ foretold and fort, shadowed, "of whom Moses and the prophets did write" John 1: Now, too, it was made manifest that Jesus was not Elias or one of the prophets, as some erroneously had supposed, but different from and superior to all; that he had power over life and death, and could bring whom he would from the unseen World; that the cross and Passion were not degrading, or proofs of weakness, but glorious and triumphant accomplishments of the will or God.