Luke 9:28, commentary and pictures

About eight days after His preceding teachings, Jesus took Peter, James and John up a steep, rugged mountain in the evening to pray, after a day of travel, teaching and healing that left them weary. Through the night He pleaded for strength to bear His coming suffering and for His disciples to witness a manifestation of His divinity, so their doubts would be removed and they would understand His death belonged to God's plan of redemption. His prayer was heard, for He was transfigured before them with His face shining like the sun and His raiment white and glistening, while God's voice proclaimed Him His beloved Son and Moses and Elijah spoke with Him of the death He would suffer at Jerusalem. What the three saw was Christ's kingdom in miniature, fulfilling His promise that some standing with Him would see the kingdom of God come with power, with Moses representing those raised from the dead and Elijah representing those translated without dying at Christ's second coming. This gave them undeniable proof that Jesus is the promised Messiah and Son of God, meant to greatly strengthen their faith so the humiliation and crucifixion would not destroy their confidence.

Time, Mountain, and Companions

About eight days after those sayings, shortly after those teachings, Jesus took Peter and John and James and led them up a mountain to pray. The ascent came in the evening after a day spent in travel and in teaching and healing, and the climb was up a rugged and steep mountain. Jesus sought solitude there for meditation and prayer apart from the crowds, and both He and the disciples were weary from the day and the climb.

The ascent followed six gloomy days in which the disciples sorrowed and doubted and hoped and feared while journeying toward the city where they expected His death. The journey up the mountain took place as evening fell, and the gathering darkness matched their sorrow over His foretold suffering.

Peter, John, and James were His chosen companions in close relationship with Him. They were taken up to witness His transfiguration and glory, and afterward they served as His chief witnesses after His death. James, with Peter and John, thus beheld the Saviour transfigured and glorified, and his closeness to Christ and his later suffering and execution gave him fuller understanding of sharing Christ's cup and baptism of suffering.

The mountain scene belongs to Christ's final time with His disciples before He was taken from them. In that time He reflected light upon the people, and He wanted His disciples to remember what He had taught them.

Jesus' Night of Prayer

Jesus withdrew to the mountain for solitude, meditation and prayer away from the crowds, and continued there in communion with the Father through the night. The transfiguration followed that night of communion, showing His practice of seeking solitude and prayer when preparing for an important work or great trial.

Through the night He pleaded for strength to bear His coming suffering, afflictions and test, and for grace to help His disciples endure their coming trials. He also sought help from God to withstand continual temptations. His chief concern in that prayer was that the disciples would be given a manifestation of His divinity and glory. He asked this so their doubts would be removed, they would know Him as the Son of God and be given further proof of His Messiahship, and they would understand that His death belonged to God's plan of redemption and was necessary for His glory, the Father's glory, and humanity's sharing in that glory. Those who so teach hold that strengthening the disciples' faith in this way was His leading purpose.

The disciples had been brought along to watch and pray with Him, but they grew weary and fell asleep. His prayer for a revelation of glory that would strengthen them was heard, and they awakened to see Him transfigured in heavenly radiance with Moses and Elijah.

Glory and Heavenly Visitors

As He prayed He was transfigured before them, and the fashion of His countenance was changed. His face shone like the sun and was lighted up with divine glory shining through His humanity, as much of that glory as human beings could bear to see. His raiment became white and glistening, and His radiance was so great they must shield their eyes, while a cloud overshadowed them. From that cloud came the voice of God in terrible and fearful majesty, proclaiming, This is My beloved Son, hear Him.

That voice declared Him to be the Son and raised Him above humanity to commune with Him. It was the second time the voice proclaimed Christ as Son, the first being at His baptism and the third coming just before His betrayal to witness to Him. This stands in contrast to the crucifixion, when heaven was silent and no testimony in Christ's favor was heard while He suffered abuse and mockery alone.

God sent Moses and Elijah as bearers of light and glory from the Father to the Son. They spoke with Him about the sufferings and death He would face in Jerusalem. Their presence brought heaven's glory and comfort and glorified Him as He prepared to complete His mission.

They were chosen rather than angels because they had experienced earthly life and its trials. Having known human sorrow and suffering, they could sympathize with Jesus. Elijah had represented Christ as a prophet, and Moses had led Israel in Christ's place, communing with Him and following His directions.

In Moses' presence his prayer uttered centuries before was at last fulfilled, as he stood upon the goodly mountain within the heritage of his people. There he bore witness to Him in whom all the promises to Israel centered, with Elijah who had been translated. Such is the last scene revealed to mortal vision in the history of that man so highly honored of Heaven.

The disciples recognized Moses and Elijah as honored messengers from God. Yet they took Elijah's appearance as the promised coming of Elijah and supposed Christ's kingdom was about to be established on earth. So Peter proposed making shelters for Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, thinking the heavenly visitors might protect Jesus from the death awaiting Him in Jerusalem, showing he had forgotten Jesus' teaching that the plan of salvation must be fulfilled through suffering and death.

The disciples later remembered that glory and the voice of God from the cloud when they saw Jesus in Gethsemane, and this memory reassured them that God was protecting Him. The voice and glory witnessed on the mountain had strengthened their faith that He was the Son of God, and they remembered that revelation during His trial. Yet they wrongly expected Him to use His power to escape and defeat His enemies rather than die.

Kingdom Promise Fulfilled

About eight days after His sayings Jesus took Peter and John and James up the mountain, and what followed there fulfilled His promise that some standing with Him would not taste death till they saw the kingdom of God come with power. The transfiguration was that fulfillment, for the three disciples beheld with fear and astonishment His excellent majesty when the fashion of His countenance was changed and shone like the sun and His raiment became white and glistening, while a cloud overshadowed them and the voice of God in terrible majesty said, This is My beloved Son, hear Him. They saw His majesty and heard God identify Him as His beloved Son and command them to hear Him.

What they saw was Christ's kingdom in miniature, with Jesus clothed with heaven's glory and light and the Father proclaiming Him the Son of God. The scene showed the kingdom of the redeemed in miniature, as Jesus appeared in heavenly light and the voice from the cloud acknowledged Him as the Son of God.

In that miniature Moses represented those who will be raised from the dead at Jesus' second coming and second advent. Elijah, who was translated without seeing death, represented those who will be alive then and be changed from mortal to immortal and without dying be translated to heaven.

Jesus was glorified by His Father before His betrayal and crucifixion to strengthen Him for His last dreadful sufferings, when it was said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him. He prayed before giving His disciples this visible sign of His divinity and symbol of His kingdom. He sought God's help to withstand continual temptations, while His chief concern was to strengthen the disciples' faith and help them understand that His death was necessary for His glory, the Father's glory, and humanity's sharing in that glory.

Proof of Divine Sonship

The mountain gave Peter, John, and James undeniable evidence and strong proof that Jesus is the promised Messiah. God's voice declared Him His Son, His beloved Son, and Moses and Elijah honored Him as they spoke with Him, while the disciples beheld His face lighted with divine glory and His raiment white and glistening and heard the voice in fearful majesty commanding them to hear Him. What they saw and heard on the holy mountain was eyewitness confirmation of His divine honor and glory, His excellent majesty and divine character, bearing witness to the power and coming of the Lord. It was meant to greatly strengthen their faith for the coming trial, so that bitter sorrow and disappointment, humiliation and crucifixion, would not destroy their confidence or cause them to entirely cast it away.

James was with Peter and John when Jesus took them up the mountain to pray, and there they saw the Saviour transfigured and glorified. His place among the three closest to Christ, together with his own later suffering and execution, helped him understand more fully Jesus' words about drinking His cup and sharing His baptism of suffering. John likewise was one of the three taken up to pray who witnessed Christ's glory at the transfiguration. James and John together saw Him glorified by God and honored by Moses and Elijah.

Pattern for Faithful Service

The mountain to pray shows the habit of seeking solitude in the mountains and spending the night in prayer when preparing for an important work or great trial, and the transfiguration followed such a night of communion with the Father. That night of prayer belongs among the occasions of prayer before a great trial or important work, together with the choosing of the apostles, the sermon on the mount, the agony before the judgment hall and the cross, and the resurrection glory. After witnessing His glory on the mountain and hearing the Father proclaim Him the Son of God, the disciples descended and Jesus freed a demon-possessed child from the demon's power. The contrast between His glory on the mountain and His humble act of rescue shows redemption, that the Divine One leaves the Father's glory to save the lost.

The mount of beholding Christ's glory leads back to the plain, where people enslaved by Satan wait for faith-filled prayer to set them free. Christ's servants must therefore work among people in need and share His self-sacrificing love through service and sacrifice, not spend their lives only in moments of spiritual illumination. Standing near Christ is joined to this self-sacrificing service for others who need faith and prayer for deliverance.

In the final conflict Christ's faithful people will grow into Him and share His spirit and glory, with the latter rain reviving and strengthening them through the time of trouble. Their faces will shine with the light attending the third angel's message, as Jesus was glorified by His Father at the transfiguration to strengthen Him before His betrayal and crucifixion. The Mount of Transfiguration also supplies the image of the ascent to which woman is appointed, involving strength, endurance, toil, self-sacrifice, and abandoning the idols the world worships.