Mark 9:2
And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them. And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves: and he was transfigured before them.
After six gloomy days following His foretelling of His suffering and death, Jesus takes only Peter, James and John, who alone can receive the revelation, and leads them up a lonely high mountain apart by themselves. He goes seeking retirement for prayer, bowing on the ground with strong crying for strength to endure, for His disciples' faith, and for a manifestation of His glory, while the weary disciples fall asleep. His prayer is heard as divinity flashes through humanity, His face shining as the sun and His garments brilliantly white, so the waking disciples behold as much of heavenly glory as mortals can bear. He is seen in converse with Moses, raised from the dead, and Elijah, translated without seeing death, speaking of His coming suffering at Jerusalem, while the Father's voice from the cloud proclaims Him the beloved Son to be heard, showing in miniature His kingdom come with power with its risen and translated subjects. The glory both strengthens Him for His final sufferings and is meant to keep the disciples' faith from failing in the gloom of His crucifixion, before He descends only hours later from glory to rescue suffering humanity.
Prayer Apart on Mountain
The words after six days cover six long, gloomy days after Jesus foretold His suffering and death. During those days He and the disciples journeyed along the shores of the Sea of Galilee toward the city where their hopes would be crushed. The disciples dared not remonstrate, but talked together in low, sorrowful tones about what the future would be. Even amid their questionings they clung to the thought that some unforeseen circumstance might avert the doom awaiting their Lord. Thus they sorrowed and doubted, hoped and feared.
In the evening after a day of traveling, teaching, healing and lifting burdens, Jesus leads the disciples across the fields and far up a rugged path to a lonely, secluded mountainside apart by themselves. The climb adds to weariness, and He Himself compassed with humanity also needs rest. He seeks the quiet place for retirement, meditation and prayer, for He often spends entire nights in the mountains, at home with nature as its Maker. The disciples follow without asking whither He goes or for what purpose, yet wondering why He leads them up the toilsome ascent. He takes only Peter, James and John, the same three who will witness His anguish in Gethsemane. Not all even of the twelve can receive the revelation He desires to give, but these three are favored, brought into closest relationship, and can receive it.
He takes them that they might unite with Him in prayer, and stepping a little aside He bows in lowliness upon the stony ground. He prays with strong crying and tears for strength to endure the test in behalf of humanity and for a fresh hold on Omnipotence to contemplate the future. He pleads for His disciples that their faith may not fail in the hour of the power of darkness and that grace may sustain them in their coming trial. The burden of His prayer is for a manifestation of the glory He had with the Father before the world was, that His kingdom may be revealed to human eyes. While He prays the disciples, brought to watch and pray with Him, are overcome by fatigue and fall asleep from weariness.
His prayer is heard: the heavens open and holy radiance descends and enshrouds Him. Divinity from within flashes through humanity and meets the glory from above, His soul-agony is gone, and He stands in Godlike majesty. His face shines serenely and radiantly as the sun, and His form is clothed in such radiant glory that the eyes must be shielded. His garments become brilliantly white as the light and glistening, with His divine glory shining through the veiling humanity. The disciples awaking behold the flood of glory illuminating the mount and see as much of that glory as human beings can bear.
He is seen not alone but in close converse with Moses and Elijah, who speak with Him about His mission and the suffering He will endure at Jerusalem. Moses is he who upon Sinai had talked with God face to face and seen God's glory and had been raised from the dead, and Elijah is he to whom with but one other of the sons of Adam was granted never to come under the power of death but who was translated. God sends them rather than angels because they had lived as human beings and knew earthly trials, sorrow and suffering and are fit to sympathize. Moses had led Israel under Christ's direction and in Christ's place, and Elijah's prophetic work had in part represented Christ's work. They bring heaven's glory and comfort to Him and bear God's glory to Him.
A voice from the radiant glory and overshadowing cloud in fearful majesty proclaims Him the Son of God, declaring This is My beloved Son to be heard. There He receives honor and glory from God the Father from the excellent glory, which the disciples hear with their own ears with fear and astonishment. This divine testimony is one of the occasions when God's voice proclaims Christ to be His Son, heard also at His baptism and a third time shortly before His betrayal. The brief vision reveals Jesus glorified and honored by Moses and Elijah, whom the wondering disciples recognize as favored messengers of God. But they take Elijah's appearance as fulfillment of prophecy and suppose Christ's kingdom is about to be established on earth. Peter's offer to build shelters reflects his joy and his mistaken hope that the heavenly visitors will protect Jesus from death and establish His earthly rule, and the vision does not cancel His repeated teaching that the plan of salvation must be completed through His suffering and death.
Kingdom in Miniature Promise
The ascent fulfills the promise that some standing with Him would not see or taste death until they saw the kingdom of God come with power. On the mount the fashion of His countenance is changed and His excellent majesty is revealed, His face shining as the sun and His raiment white and glistening, so that He stands clothed with the glory of Heaven while the Father's voice from the overshadowing cloud proclaims Him the Son of God to be heard. What is shown there is Christ's kingdom in miniature. In that miniature kingdom Moses is present as representative of those who will be raised from the dead at Christ's second coming and second appearing, and Elijah, who was translated to Heaven without seeing death, is present as representative of those who will be living on earth at that appearing and will be changed from mortal to immortal and translated to Heaven without seeing death. The same scene is a miniature picture of the kingdom of the redeemed, with Elijah also standing for the saints who will be alive at the second advent.
Moses and Elijah are sent from the Father as bearers of light and glory to the Son. For Moses the presence fulfills his long-ago prayer to share Israel's inheritance, for he stands on the mountain within the heritage of his people and bears witness to Christ, in whom all Israel's promises center. The event gives the three disciples further undeniable evidence and strong proof that Jesus is the promised Messiah and the Son of God, with God's voice declaring Him to be His Son and Moses and Elijah honoring Him. That heavenly testimony to His glory and divine character is meant to remove their doubts, even though He has lived as a homeless, sorrowful man. The glory they see and the voice they hear strengthen their faith that He is the Son of God, a conviction they recall during His trial.
The manifestation of His divinity is given to greatly strengthen the disciples' faith for the coming severe trial of His humiliation, suffering and death. It is meant to keep their confidence from failing and being cast away in their bitter sorrow and disappointment at His crucifixion. It lightens their sorrowful gloom with assurance that their faith has not been in vain. It comforts them in the hour of His supreme agony with the knowledge that He is of a surety the Son of God. His shameful death is thereby shown to be part of God's plan of redemption, necessary for His glory and the Father's glory and for the human race's sharing in that glory.
The glory by which He is transfigured and glorified by His Father also strengthens Him before His betrayal and crucifixion, preparing Him for His final sufferings.
Descent to Suffering Service
The transfiguration took place only a few short hours before He came down to meet human grief, setting the extreme of glory against the extreme of suffering. His descent from the mountain to rescue the suffering boy presents the Divine One and mighty Redeemer stooping from the Father's glory to save the lost. He lifted the demon-possessed child wallowing on the ground with distorted countenance and spasms of agony and restored him to his father freed forever from Satan's power, in contrast to the heavenly glory just beheld.
Peter's presence on the holy mount made him an eyewitness of Christ's majesty and of His power and coming and of much that pertained to the kingdom of God. There Jesus received honor and glory from God the Father when the voice came from the excellent glory, and Peter heard it with his own ears. This qualified him to speak with certainty about God's purposes concerning the human race, because his message was not cunningly devised fables but what he had seen and heard. Peter, James and John witnessed Him glorified and became His chief witnesses after His death.
James's later imprisonment and execution brought home to him Jesus' words about sharing His cup and baptism, which he better understood through memory of this revelation. The glory revealed on the mountain was the same glory that later shone around Him in Gethsemane, reminding the disciples that God was caring for Him and an angel was protecting Him. Standing with Christ on the mount points to receiving His glory and beauty.
Christ's servants must leave moments of spiritual illumination to serve people still suffering below where Satan holds them captive enslaved, and those who have beheld His glory are called to help set them free through faith and prayer. The verse also points to the faithful people of God sharing in Christ's glory as they face their final conflict, when the latter rain will revive and strengthen them through the time of trouble and their faces will shine with the light attending the third angel's message. The Mount of Transfiguration presents an image of an appointed ascent demanding strength, endurance, toil, self-sacrifice and the burning of worldly idols, an ascent toward a holy calling and a life clothed in the shining garments of knowledge and love.