THOUGHTS FROM THE MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION.
By W. S. Sadler
And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart.” Matt. 17:1. These three disciples had the privilege of obtaining an experience and seeing something the others did not. They got a new glimpse of Christ. God sometimes sees fit to trust some of His people with a special view of Himself. If heaven should trust you with such a special blessing, what kind of attitude would you take? What responsibility would you feel concerning the new views of truth,—what would you do about it? Peter, James, and John got a special view of Christ’s relation to man; a special view of the presence and association of men with Christ. They saw speaking with Christ those who should die and should be saved by the way of the grave, and those who should be translated without seeing death; for Moses and Elias represent two classes,—those who are raised from the grave to see Him in the last great day, and those who shall see Him without tasting death. There comes a time when silence is the best speech, a time when the Master says, “Just be still and see that I am God.” But Peter thought he must say something,—he must express himself on this solemn occasion, so without very much deliberation and perhaps without any prayer at all, he uttered the words, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if Thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias.” In other words: “This is a good place to be. I guess we will stay here. Let us put up some buildings for our comfort.” Perhaps that was the first thing that came to him, and he thought it would be a good thing to say. He forgot all about the suffering in the world below. Now and then God gives us elevated views of Himself and His glorious truth; He takes us apart from the world for a season, to bring us nearer to Himself, that we may return and communicate to the world of the peace and truth and power we beheld and experienced. “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him,” is the message that comes from the cloud. Do we hear a divine voice, in every bit of truth and blessing that comes to us, saying, “This is My beloved Son”? “This comes to you thru the channel of His grace. Hear ye Him. Bow before Him. Walk softly before Him. Hear His voice. Do His bidding. Let your trust be in Him.” “They were afraid.” Their hearts did not love perfectly. “Perfect love casteth out fear.” Probably none of us love perfectly, but we can love perfectly even with the faculties we have. At least we can love sincerely with the whole heart. Whenever a soul gets fearful, discouraged, or despondent, Jesus touches that soul, saying, “Arise, and be not afraid.” “They saw no man, save Jesus only.” That is what God gives us great glimpses of truth for. In all our work, in all our experience, we must keep our eyes on Jesus. All we do should be as unto the Lord, and in all our work we should see Jesus, we must see Jesus only. Judas saw Christ, but Judas failed in seeing Jesus only. If the enemy can’t keep our eyes off Jesus, he will seek to have our eyes on Christ and on something else at the same time, but let us see Jesus only. Every time we are downcast and despondent, it is evidence that our eyes are not on Jesus, at least not on Jesus only. Every time we find fault with our co-workers and associates, it is evidence that our eyes are not on Jesus only, but on our brethren too. So all the troubles we get into, as a rule, have their origin in the fact that we have had our eyes on Jesus and on some one else too, or else we have had our eyes off Him entirely. Why were Peter, James, and John the only ones who were taken up into the mountain? They were not perfect men, but they were the most earnest of all the disciples. They were perhaps the nearest God, and better prepared to appreciate what they should see there. The fact that the nine remaining disciples could not cast the demon out of the boy, would perhaps indicate their state of mind and heart. Peter wanted to stay on the mount, but Christ had a better plan. He saw the experience the other disciples were having in the valley below, so He says, We must go down and help them, and He appears just at the time the baffled disciples needed Him most. God gives us truths, advantages, and opportunities, for no other purpose than that we may give them to those who have them not. Whenever our individual experience begins to come to a standstill, and we begin to nurse our Christianity and thank God for what He has done for us, the next thing is, that we begin to say in our hearts, We are “rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing,” etc. The only thing that can keep us in a place of realizing our own deficiency, is constantly to give out all that has been given us. We have freely received; then let us freely give. When organizations or individuals get to carrying on their work in a stereotyped way, they soon begin to retrograde. Eternal truth should be diffusive, like the light of the sun. Christ mentioned this principle when He said, “This ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone.” We want to hold every fort that God has given us, but at the same time keep on reaching out after the new truths and triumphs. The only way to get truth and keep it is to give it away as soon as we get it. The moment a tree ceases to grow, it begins to die. We cease to grow the moment we cease to give and work for others. Just as physical food must enter into our bodies and be liberated in heat and energy, so our spiritual food must become a part of our characters, and be given out in our efforts for others, as spiritual fervency and as moral energy. W. S. SADLER.