Jesus Glorified with Moses and Elijah on the MountBible World
9:29Luke 9:29
And as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.
As He prayed alone on the mountain with Peter, James and John, His face became radiant with heavenly light and His garments became dazzling white like the midday sun. The light shone outward from the divine glory within Him through His humanity and met the glory descending from heaven to surround Him. It was an answer to His prayer and a visible proof of His Messiahship and Sonship, unveiling the majesty He had with the Father before the world existed as brightly as human beings could bear. The glory strengthened Jesus Himself for betrayal and crucifixion in Jerusalem and strengthened the disciples so that sorrow and humiliation at His death would not destroy their faith, while Moses and Elijah spoke with Him of that coming suffering as part of redemption. The scene was the kingdom of Christ in miniature, with Moses present as one raised from the dead and Elijah as one translated without dying, and from the overshadowing glory the Father proclaimed Him the beloved Son to be heard.
Words and Setting
Jesus withdrew with Peter, James and John, the three favored disciples brought into closest relationship with Him, to be His chief witnesses. He led them up a mountain after a day of teaching and healing to find a quiet place away from the crowds for meditation and prayer, though He was weary from work and they were weary from the climb. The transfiguration was preceded by a night spent in prayer to the Father. This showed His habit of seeking communion with the Father in solitude before important work or trial.
As He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered. His face became serene and radiant with heavenly light, and after rising from prayer the anguish left it. He stood in Godlike majesty, His face lighted up and shining with heavenly glory. His raiment became white and glistering, changing from ordinary soiled garments to brilliant dazzling white like the midday sun. His clothing became brilliantly bright as He prayed, dazzling to behold.
The radiance both shone outward from divine glory within Him through His humanity and surrounded Him from heaven, the inward light meeting the descending glory. His human appearance was transformed as divine glory within shone through it while glory from heaven encompassed Him. That brightness, usually veiled by His humanity, revealed His divine majesty as far as human beings could bear while He conversed with heavenly visitors.
Revelation and Purpose
As He prayed His human form was transfigured, the divine glory He had with the Father before the world existed shining through His humanity while glory from heaven surrounded Him. His face shone with heavenly light and His clothing became radiant, the veil of humanity letting through as much brightness as human beings could bear to reveal His divine majesty. That change was an answer to His prayer, a visible token of His divinity given to remove doubts and to help the disciples understand His mission and kingdom. It was proof beyond doubt that the meek, lowly, homeless Teacher, the Man of sorrows, is the promised Messiah and Son of God, acknowledged by the voice from heaven and honored by glorious visitors from heaven.
The glory was given by the Father to strengthen and comfort Jesus Himself, anguish leaving His countenance as He rose radiant for the suffering awaiting Him in Jerusalem. It came before His betrayal and crucifixion to prepare Him for His mission and His last dreadful sufferings. It was given also to greatly strengthen the faith of the disciples as strong proof that He is the promised Messiah and Son of God. Thus the sorrow, disappointment, humiliation, and bitter trial of His death would not cause them to entirely cast away their confidence, for they would remember this assurance through His coming humiliation.
Moses and Elijah appeared with Him in glory and spoke with Him about His coming suffering and death in Jerusalem, showing that His death was part of the plan of redemption. God sent them as bearers of light and glory to talk with Him concerning His sufferings and to comfort Him as He faced His mission. They were sent rather than angels because as men they had experienced the trials of earthly life. Moses in particular had been honored to speak with God face to face and to see God's glory.
Kingdom Prophecy in Miniature
The altered countenance shining like the sun and the raiment white and glistening displayed the excellent majesty of the kingdom of God come with power, fulfilling the promise that some standing with Him would not taste death till they saw it. The disciples on the mountain saw the kingdom of Christ in miniature, beholding Him glorified and exalted and clothed with heaven's glory and light. He was so radiant that they had to shield their eyes, and they beheld this majesty with astonishment and fear under the overshadowing cloud while the voice of God in terrible majesty declared Him the beloved Son to be heard.
Moses was present as one raised from the dead, representing those who will be raised from the dead at the second appearing and second advent of Jesus. His presence fulfilled the prayer he had uttered centuries before to share the inheritance of Israel, for he then stood upon the goodly mountain within the heritage of his people. There he bore witness to Jesus as the One in whom all the promises to Israel centered, and this is the last scene revealed to mortal vision in the history of Moses. Elijah was present as one who had been translated without seeing death, representing those who will be changed to immortality and changed from mortal to immortal and translated to heaven without seeing death and without dying at Christ's second coming.
The glory given by the Father on the mount strengthened Jesus before His betrayal and crucifixion, preparing Him for His final sufferings. That same glory points to the future glory of God's faithful people, who as they draw near to their final conflict will grow into Christ and share His spirit. The latter rain will revive and strengthen them, and their faces will shine with the glory accompanying the third angel's message.
Divine Voice and Connections
From the radiant glory overshadowing the mount the Father's voice spoke in terrible and fearful majesty, declaring This is My beloved Son, hear Him, while the disciples beheld the excellent majesty of Jesus with His face shining like the sun and His raiment white and glistening, and looked on with astonishment and fear. As He prayed His appearance shone with the glory of God and He stood clothed with heaven's glory in miniature of the kingdom, speaking with messengers from heaven while the Father proclaimed Him the Son of God. That audible proclamation was the second of three testimonies, coming after the voice at His baptism and before the voice witnessing to Him as Son just before His betrayal, whereas at the cross heaven was silent and no testimony in His favor was heard while He suffered abuse and mockery alone. The event on the holy mount displayed the honor and glory He received from God the Father, and stands as eyewitness evidence of the power and coming of the Lord Jesus.
The mountain scene reveals humanity transformed into the image of God, set in contrast with the boy below debased by Satan, and His descent from heavenly glory to restore that sufferer illustrates redemption as the Divine One stooping to save the lost, with the mount holding glory above and the plain below holding people in need of faith and prayer for deliverance. The glory revealed in His changed appearance and bright clothing on the mountain was the same glory the disciples later recognized in Gethsemane. In that glorification His glory, usually veiled by humanity, shone through it as brightly as human beings could bear, and God recognized His Son and lifted Him above humanity to commune with heavenly visitors. The voice from heaven acknowledged the patient, meek and lowly Teacher who wandered homeless as a Man of sorrows with no place to rest as God's Son, while Moses and Elijah as glorious ones paid Him homage, in what eye saw and ear heard beyond human comprehension.
Study and Present Application
The portion to which this verse belongs is to be studied to get its meaning in preparation for trials and persecutions that will come everywhere. Such study requires hearts in full harmony with Christ and intelligent knowledge of His work and of what He will do for those who follow on to know the Lord. To follow on to know the Lord is to experience a going forth prepared as the morning, meaning a continual increase of light. At that time Christ was in the world reflecting light upon the people when the time was nearly come for Him to be taken from them, and He desired His followers to remember all He had said to them.
James witnessed this transfiguration together with Peter and John before he himself later faced imprisonment and death. Jesus' earlier words about sharing His cup and baptism became clearer to James in that experience. The shining garments of the transfiguration also present an image of the qualities of Knowledge and Love needed for a glorious ascent.
As He prayed alone on the mountain with Peter, James and John, His face became radiant with heavenly light and His garments became dazzling white like the midday sun. The light shone outward from the divine glory within Him through His humanity and met the glory descending from heaven to surround Him. It was an answer to His prayer and a visible proof of His Messiahship and Sonship, unveiling the majesty He had with the Father before the world existed as brightly as human beings could bear. The glory strengthened Jesus Himself for betrayal and crucifixion in Jerusalem and strengthened the disciples so that sorrow and humiliation at His death would not destroy their faith, while Moses and Elijah spoke with Him of that coming suffering as part of redemption. The scene was the kingdom of Christ in miniature, with Moses present as one raised from the dead and Elijah as one translated without dying, and from the overshadowing glory the Father proclaimed Him the beloved Son to be heard.
Words and Setting
Jesus withdrew with Peter, James and John, the three favored disciples brought into closest relationship with Him, to be His chief witnesses. He led them up a mountain after a day of teaching and healing to find a quiet place away from the crowds for meditation and prayer, though He was weary from work and they were weary from the climb. The transfiguration was preceded by a night spent in prayer to the Father. This showed His habit of seeking communion with the Father in solitude before important work or trial.
As He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered. His face became serene and radiant with heavenly light, and after rising from prayer the anguish left it. He stood in Godlike majesty, His face lighted up and shining with heavenly glory. His raiment became white and glistering, changing from ordinary soiled garments to brilliant dazzling white like the midday sun. His clothing became brilliantly bright as He prayed, dazzling to behold.
The radiance both shone outward from divine glory within Him through His humanity and surrounded Him from heaven, the inward light meeting the descending glory. His human appearance was transformed as divine glory within shone through it while glory from heaven encompassed Him. That brightness, usually veiled by His humanity, revealed His divine majesty as far as human beings could bear while He conversed with heavenly visitors.
Revelation and Purpose
As He prayed His human form was transfigured, the divine glory He had with the Father before the world existed shining through His humanity while glory from heaven surrounded Him. His face shone with heavenly light and His clothing became radiant, the veil of humanity letting through as much brightness as human beings could bear to reveal His divine majesty. That change was an answer to His prayer, a visible token of His divinity given to remove doubts and to help the disciples understand His mission and kingdom. It was proof beyond doubt that the meek, lowly, homeless Teacher, the Man of sorrows, is the promised Messiah and Son of God, acknowledged by the voice from heaven and honored by glorious visitors from heaven.
The glory was given by the Father to strengthen and comfort Jesus Himself, anguish leaving His countenance as He rose radiant for the suffering awaiting Him in Jerusalem. It came before His betrayal and crucifixion to prepare Him for His mission and His last dreadful sufferings. It was given also to greatly strengthen the faith of the disciples as strong proof that He is the promised Messiah and Son of God. Thus the sorrow, disappointment, humiliation, and bitter trial of His death would not cause them to entirely cast away their confidence, for they would remember this assurance through His coming humiliation.
Moses and Elijah appeared with Him in glory and spoke with Him about His coming suffering and death in Jerusalem, showing that His death was part of the plan of redemption. God sent them as bearers of light and glory to talk with Him concerning His sufferings and to comfort Him as He faced His mission. They were sent rather than angels because as men they had experienced the trials of earthly life. Moses in particular had been honored to speak with God face to face and to see God's glory.
Kingdom Prophecy in Miniature
The altered countenance shining like the sun and the raiment white and glistening displayed the excellent majesty of the kingdom of God come with power, fulfilling the promise that some standing with Him would not taste death till they saw it. The disciples on the mountain saw the kingdom of Christ in miniature, beholding Him glorified and exalted and clothed with heaven's glory and light. He was so radiant that they had to shield their eyes, and they beheld this majesty with astonishment and fear under the overshadowing cloud while the voice of God in terrible majesty declared Him the beloved Son to be heard.
Moses was present as one raised from the dead, representing those who will be raised from the dead at the second appearing and second advent of Jesus. His presence fulfilled the prayer he had uttered centuries before to share the inheritance of Israel, for he then stood upon the goodly mountain within the heritage of his people. There he bore witness to Jesus as the One in whom all the promises to Israel centered, and this is the last scene revealed to mortal vision in the history of Moses. Elijah was present as one who had been translated without seeing death, representing those who will be changed to immortality and changed from mortal to immortal and translated to heaven without seeing death and without dying at Christ's second coming.
The glory given by the Father on the mount strengthened Jesus before His betrayal and crucifixion, preparing Him for His final sufferings. That same glory points to the future glory of God's faithful people, who as they draw near to their final conflict will grow into Christ and share His spirit. The latter rain will revive and strengthen them, and their faces will shine with the glory accompanying the third angel's message.
Divine Voice and Connections
From the radiant glory overshadowing the mount the Father's voice spoke in terrible and fearful majesty, declaring This is My beloved Son, hear Him, while the disciples beheld the excellent majesty of Jesus with His face shining like the sun and His raiment white and glistening, and looked on with astonishment and fear. As He prayed His appearance shone with the glory of God and He stood clothed with heaven's glory in miniature of the kingdom, speaking with messengers from heaven while the Father proclaimed Him the Son of God. That audible proclamation was the second of three testimonies, coming after the voice at His baptism and before the voice witnessing to Him as Son just before His betrayal, whereas at the cross heaven was silent and no testimony in His favor was heard while He suffered abuse and mockery alone. The event on the holy mount displayed the honor and glory He received from God the Father, and stands as eyewitness evidence of the power and coming of the Lord Jesus.
The mountain scene reveals humanity transformed into the image of God, set in contrast with the boy below debased by Satan, and His descent from heavenly glory to restore that sufferer illustrates redemption as the Divine One stooping to save the lost, with the mount holding glory above and the plain below holding people in need of faith and prayer for deliverance. The glory revealed in His changed appearance and bright clothing on the mountain was the same glory the disciples later recognized in Gethsemane. In that glorification His glory, usually veiled by humanity, shone through it as brightly as human beings could bear, and God recognized His Son and lifted Him above humanity to commune with heavenly visitors. The voice from heaven acknowledged the patient, meek and lowly Teacher who wandered homeless as a Man of sorrows with no place to rest as God's Son, while Moses and Elijah as glorious ones paid Him homage, in what eye saw and ear heard beyond human comprehension.
Study and Present Application
The portion to which this verse belongs is to be studied to get its meaning in preparation for trials and persecutions that will come everywhere. Such study requires hearts in full harmony with Christ and intelligent knowledge of His work and of what He will do for those who follow on to know the Lord. To follow on to know the Lord is to experience a going forth prepared as the morning, meaning a continual increase of light. At that time Christ was in the world reflecting light upon the people when the time was nearly come for Him to be taken from them, and He desired His followers to remember all He had said to them.
James witnessed this transfiguration together with Peter and John before he himself later faced imprisonment and death. Jesus' earlier words about sharing His cup and baptism became clearer to James in that experience. The shining garments of the transfiguration also present an image of the qualities of Knowledge and Love needed for a glorious ascent.