And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.
On a lonely mount sought for prayer His outer clothing turned dazzling and snow-white beyond any earthly bleaching, while His face shone like the sun before Peter, James and John under the overshadowing cloud. That brightness was His own divine splendor breaking through veiled humanity to meet glory descending from above, exalting Him in God-like majesty as the beloved Son of God. It was given to remove doubt that He is the Son of God and promised Messiah, and to uphold both Him and the disciples through His coming agony, humiliation and crucifixion and their bitter disappointment. The scene displays in miniature the kingdom of God come with power and His return as King of kings in purest white with His Father's glory and holy angels, where Moses stands for the dead to be raised and Elijah for the living to be changed without seeing death. That same whiteness is His righteousness given as a bridal robe to prepare for His coming, sending those who behold it down from the mount to rescue the Satan-bound in self-sacrificing service and prayer.
Wording and Mountain Setting
And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow, brilliantly white beyond anything any fuller on earth could whiten. The description belongs to Jesus' garments at the transfiguration, radiant and exceptionally white with supernatural brightness. The same whiteness pictures what He will wear at His return, clothed in the whitest white as heaven's King in contrast to the purple robe worn when He was mocked and condemned.
His coarse and soiled clothing was transformed into white and glittering garments like the noon-day sun, white and glistening with heavenly radiance. His countenance was changed to shine like the sun with serene light, His face lighted up with divine glory and His soul-agony leaving Him as He stood in God-like majesty. The flood of glory illuminated the whole mount and awakened the sleeping disciples, who gazed with fear and amazement and astonishment. They were at first dazzled by the unearthly brilliancy and could not look without shielding their eyes.
The setting is the mount of transfiguration, which Jesus sought in solitude for meditation and prayer after a day of teaching and healing. There His three favored disciples Peter, James and John, the three closest to Him, were permitted to witness His glory. They saw as much of His divine glory shining through the veiled humanity as human beings could bear, while He spoke with heavenly visitors and was raised above humanity to commune with them under the overshadowing cloud.
On the mount He talked with messengers from heaven, Moses and Elijah, delegated by the Father as bearers of light and glory to comfort Him. They spoke with Him concerning the completion of His mission and especially His sufferings and death to be endured at Jerusalem. Moses, who talked with God face to face amid the thunder and lightnings of Sinai and stood in the place of Christ as leader of Israel, and Elijah, who did not see death but was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire and represented Christ in His work as prophet to Israel, were chosen because as men who had lived on earth they had experienced human sorrow and suffering and could sympathize with Jesus. While He stood glorified in radiant glory the Father's voice out of the radiant excellent glory in terrible and fearful majesty proclaimed Him the beloved Son to be heard, affirming His divine character as the Son of God.
Divine Glory Revealed
The shining whiteness beyond any earthly fuller's power is supernatural brightness, heavenly light manifesting divine glory. The coarse and soiled clothing was transformed into white glittering garments like the noon-day sun as heavenly glory descended upon Him. That radiance was divine glory from within shining through veiled humanity to meet glory descending from above, as much as human beings could bear. It was a visible display of His divine glory and Messiahship, giving proof of His divinity.
On the mount He was glorified and exalted by His Father, standing in God-like majesty and excellent majesty. His appearance was clothed in such radiant light, with countenance changed to shine like the sun, revealing the excellent majesty of His coming kingdom. The Father's voice proclaimed Him to be the Son of God, affirming His divine character as the Son of God. The glory the disciples saw there strengthened their faith that He was the Son of God, even when they later saw Him on trial and feared they had been mistaken. This glory also strengthened Him before His betrayal, final sufferings and crucifixion.
The scene shows humanity transfigured into the image of God. It reveals His glory and loveliness and beauty in a whiteness no words can fully describe. His robe was brilliantly white beyond anything earthly cleansing could make it, and His countenance shone brighter than the noonday sun.
Strength for the Cross
The shining was the answer to prayer for a showing of divinity that would take away unbelief and doubt that He is the Son of God, bring comfort in the hour of agony, and make plain that His shameful death belonged to the divine plan of redemption. It was arranged for His three disciples to give them further proof of His Messiahship and to strengthen their faith for the coming trial, after a day of teaching and healing when He had sought solitude for meditation and prayer. Suddenly the heavens opened and holy radiance descended and enshrouded His kneeling form, the soul-agony left His countenance which shone with serene light, He stood in God-like majesty, and His garments were no longer coarse and soiled but white and glittering like the noon-day sun. The flood of glory lighted the whole mount and woke the sleeping disciples, who gazed with fear and amazement and were at first dazzled by the unearthly brilliancy.
That glory was brought to Him by Moses, who had talked with God face to face amid the thunder and lightnings of Sinai, and Elijah, who had not seen death but had been taken to heaven in a chariot of fire, delegated by the Father to comfort Him and to talk with Him about the completion of His mission and especially the sufferings to be endured at Jerusalem. They were chosen because they had lived on earth as men and had experienced human sorrow and suffering and could sympathize with Him, Elijah having represented Christ in his work as prophet to Israel and Moses having stood in the place of Christ as leader of Israel.
The vision gave the disciples a glimpse of the Saviour's future glory and strong proof that He was the promised Messiah, with His garments turned to dazzling white and His face lighted with divine glory. Together with the voice from heaven affirming His divine character and the homage of Moses and Elijah speaking with Him about His sufferings and death, it was meant to strengthen faith and confidence for the trials ahead and to assure them that His coming suffering and death belonged to God's plan. It was given so that in humiliation, trial, crucifixion, and the bitter sorrow and disappointment that would follow, they would not lose confidence or entirely cast it away. The glory they saw so strengthened their faith that He was the Son of God that it held them even when they later saw Him on trial and feared they had been mistaken.
The same glory strengthened Him, glorified and radiant by His Father on the mount, before His betrayal, final sufferings, and crucifixion. It was remembered by the disciples and revealed again in the garden as reassurance that God had taken Him into His care and that an angel was present to protect Him. For James, John, and Peter the transfiguration stood as a witness to Christ's glory, and James later more fully understood, as he faced execution, the words about sharing His suffering.
Kingdom and Second Coming
The shining raiment fulfilled the promise that some standing with Him would not taste death till they saw the kingdom of God come with power. Clothed with the light and glory of heaven, He displayed the kingdom of Christ in miniature. That miniature is the kingdom of the redeemed, revealing God's purposes concerning the human race and the power and coming of the Lord. In it He stands as the glorified Saviour in His kingdom, acknowledged by the voice out of the cloud and out of the radiant excellent glory as the beloved Son to be heard.
Moses present on the mount represents those who will be raised from the dead at Christ's second appearing. Elijah present represents those who will be living on earth at the second advent and will be changed from mortal to immortal and translated to heaven without seeing death. That change will come at the close of earth's history, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump, without tasting death.
The same whiteness pictures what He will wear at His return. Having come the first time in lowliness and obscurity, in suffering and poverty, and having been crucified, and having ascended still bearing humanity after offering Himself as both priest and sacrifice, He will return not as a prisoner surrounded by a rabble but as heaven's King. He will come in His own glory and His Father's glory with the holy angels, escorted by ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands.
At His return He will be clothed in a garment of the purest, whitest white beyond any whitening possible on earth by any fuller. In place of the old purple robe worn when He was mocked and condemned He will wear that dazzling garment marking His glory as heaven's King. In place of the crown of thorns He will wear a crown of glory, a crown within a crown. Bearing the name King of kings and Lord of lords on His vesture and on His thigh, He comes as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Following Into Service and Purity
The radiant glory on the mount was followed only a few short hours later by descent to grief and rescue, when the glorified One stooped to lift a demon-possessed lunatic boy wallowing on the ground with distorted countenance and gnashing teeth in spasms of agony no mortal could relieve, and restored him freed forever from Satan's power as mighty Redeemer. Humanity thus transfigured into the image of God becomes an object lesson of the Divine One stooping from the Father's glory to save the lost. Standing with Christ on that mount and beholding His glory leads to self-sacrificing love and service, going down to the plain to help people enslaved by Satan through faith and prayer.
That same glory pictures the glory that will attend God's faithful people, for as they grow up into Christ and receive the latter rain during the closing work their faces will shine with that light. The clothing made so white that no fuller on earth can whiten it is Christ's righteousness as a bridal robe, provided by Christ and not gained through worldly riches or honor, and wearing it prepares a person to meet the Bridegroom at His coming and enter the marriage supper of the Lamb. The shining garments are also the knowledge and love with which a woman should prepare herself for a life of holy service, toil and self-sacrifice, with ascending the Mount of Transfiguration representing that demanding spiritual calling.
On a lonely mount sought for prayer His outer clothing turned dazzling and snow-white beyond any earthly bleaching, while His face shone like the sun before Peter, James and John under the overshadowing cloud. That brightness was His own divine splendor breaking through veiled humanity to meet glory descending from above, exalting Him in God-like majesty as the beloved Son of God. It was given to remove doubt that He is the Son of God and promised Messiah, and to uphold both Him and the disciples through His coming agony, humiliation and crucifixion and their bitter disappointment. The scene displays in miniature the kingdom of God come with power and His return as King of kings in purest white with His Father's glory and holy angels, where Moses stands for the dead to be raised and Elijah for the living to be changed without seeing death. That same whiteness is His righteousness given as a bridal robe to prepare for His coming, sending those who behold it down from the mount to rescue the Satan-bound in self-sacrificing service and prayer.
Wording and Mountain Setting
And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow, brilliantly white beyond anything any fuller on earth could whiten. The description belongs to Jesus' garments at the transfiguration, radiant and exceptionally white with supernatural brightness. The same whiteness pictures what He will wear at His return, clothed in the whitest white as heaven's King in contrast to the purple robe worn when He was mocked and condemned.
His coarse and soiled clothing was transformed into white and glittering garments like the noon-day sun, white and glistening with heavenly radiance. His countenance was changed to shine like the sun with serene light, His face lighted up with divine glory and His soul-agony leaving Him as He stood in God-like majesty. The flood of glory illuminated the whole mount and awakened the sleeping disciples, who gazed with fear and amazement and astonishment. They were at first dazzled by the unearthly brilliancy and could not look without shielding their eyes.
The setting is the mount of transfiguration, which Jesus sought in solitude for meditation and prayer after a day of teaching and healing. There His three favored disciples Peter, James and John, the three closest to Him, were permitted to witness His glory. They saw as much of His divine glory shining through the veiled humanity as human beings could bear, while He spoke with heavenly visitors and was raised above humanity to commune with them under the overshadowing cloud.
On the mount He talked with messengers from heaven, Moses and Elijah, delegated by the Father as bearers of light and glory to comfort Him. They spoke with Him concerning the completion of His mission and especially His sufferings and death to be endured at Jerusalem. Moses, who talked with God face to face amid the thunder and lightnings of Sinai and stood in the place of Christ as leader of Israel, and Elijah, who did not see death but was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire and represented Christ in His work as prophet to Israel, were chosen because as men who had lived on earth they had experienced human sorrow and suffering and could sympathize with Jesus. While He stood glorified in radiant glory the Father's voice out of the radiant excellent glory in terrible and fearful majesty proclaimed Him the beloved Son to be heard, affirming His divine character as the Son of God.
Divine Glory Revealed
The shining whiteness beyond any earthly fuller's power is supernatural brightness, heavenly light manifesting divine glory. The coarse and soiled clothing was transformed into white glittering garments like the noon-day sun as heavenly glory descended upon Him. That radiance was divine glory from within shining through veiled humanity to meet glory descending from above, as much as human beings could bear. It was a visible display of His divine glory and Messiahship, giving proof of His divinity.
On the mount He was glorified and exalted by His Father, standing in God-like majesty and excellent majesty. His appearance was clothed in such radiant light, with countenance changed to shine like the sun, revealing the excellent majesty of His coming kingdom. The Father's voice proclaimed Him to be the Son of God, affirming His divine character as the Son of God. The glory the disciples saw there strengthened their faith that He was the Son of God, even when they later saw Him on trial and feared they had been mistaken. This glory also strengthened Him before His betrayal, final sufferings and crucifixion.
The scene shows humanity transfigured into the image of God. It reveals His glory and loveliness and beauty in a whiteness no words can fully describe. His robe was brilliantly white beyond anything earthly cleansing could make it, and His countenance shone brighter than the noonday sun.
Strength for the Cross
The shining was the answer to prayer for a showing of divinity that would take away unbelief and doubt that He is the Son of God, bring comfort in the hour of agony, and make plain that His shameful death belonged to the divine plan of redemption. It was arranged for His three disciples to give them further proof of His Messiahship and to strengthen their faith for the coming trial, after a day of teaching and healing when He had sought solitude for meditation and prayer. Suddenly the heavens opened and holy radiance descended and enshrouded His kneeling form, the soul-agony left His countenance which shone with serene light, He stood in God-like majesty, and His garments were no longer coarse and soiled but white and glittering like the noon-day sun. The flood of glory lighted the whole mount and woke the sleeping disciples, who gazed with fear and amazement and were at first dazzled by the unearthly brilliancy.
That glory was brought to Him by Moses, who had talked with God face to face amid the thunder and lightnings of Sinai, and Elijah, who had not seen death but had been taken to heaven in a chariot of fire, delegated by the Father to comfort Him and to talk with Him about the completion of His mission and especially the sufferings to be endured at Jerusalem. They were chosen because they had lived on earth as men and had experienced human sorrow and suffering and could sympathize with Him, Elijah having represented Christ in his work as prophet to Israel and Moses having stood in the place of Christ as leader of Israel.
The vision gave the disciples a glimpse of the Saviour's future glory and strong proof that He was the promised Messiah, with His garments turned to dazzling white and His face lighted with divine glory. Together with the voice from heaven affirming His divine character and the homage of Moses and Elijah speaking with Him about His sufferings and death, it was meant to strengthen faith and confidence for the trials ahead and to assure them that His coming suffering and death belonged to God's plan. It was given so that in humiliation, trial, crucifixion, and the bitter sorrow and disappointment that would follow, they would not lose confidence or entirely cast it away. The glory they saw so strengthened their faith that He was the Son of God that it held them even when they later saw Him on trial and feared they had been mistaken.
The same glory strengthened Him, glorified and radiant by His Father on the mount, before His betrayal, final sufferings, and crucifixion. It was remembered by the disciples and revealed again in the garden as reassurance that God had taken Him into His care and that an angel was present to protect Him. For James, John, and Peter the transfiguration stood as a witness to Christ's glory, and James later more fully understood, as he faced execution, the words about sharing His suffering.
Kingdom and Second Coming
The shining raiment fulfilled the promise that some standing with Him would not taste death till they saw the kingdom of God come with power. Clothed with the light and glory of heaven, He displayed the kingdom of Christ in miniature. That miniature is the kingdom of the redeemed, revealing God's purposes concerning the human race and the power and coming of the Lord. In it He stands as the glorified Saviour in His kingdom, acknowledged by the voice out of the cloud and out of the radiant excellent glory as the beloved Son to be heard.
Moses present on the mount represents those who will be raised from the dead at Christ's second appearing. Elijah present represents those who will be living on earth at the second advent and will be changed from mortal to immortal and translated to heaven without seeing death. That change will come at the close of earth's history, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye at the last trump, without tasting death.
The same whiteness pictures what He will wear at His return. Having come the first time in lowliness and obscurity, in suffering and poverty, and having been crucified, and having ascended still bearing humanity after offering Himself as both priest and sacrifice, He will return not as a prisoner surrounded by a rabble but as heaven's King. He will come in His own glory and His Father's glory with the holy angels, escorted by ten thousand times ten thousand and thousands of thousands.
At His return He will be clothed in a garment of the purest, whitest white beyond any whitening possible on earth by any fuller. In place of the old purple robe worn when He was mocked and condemned He will wear that dazzling garment marking His glory as heaven's King. In place of the crown of thorns He will wear a crown of glory, a crown within a crown. Bearing the name King of kings and Lord of lords on His vesture and on His thigh, He comes as King of kings and Lord of lords.
Following Into Service and Purity
The radiant glory on the mount was followed only a few short hours later by descent to grief and rescue, when the glorified One stooped to lift a demon-possessed lunatic boy wallowing on the ground with distorted countenance and gnashing teeth in spasms of agony no mortal could relieve, and restored him freed forever from Satan's power as mighty Redeemer. Humanity thus transfigured into the image of God becomes an object lesson of the Divine One stooping from the Father's glory to save the lost. Standing with Christ on that mount and beholding His glory leads to self-sacrificing love and service, going down to the plain to help people enslaved by Satan through faith and prayer.
That same glory pictures the glory that will attend God's faithful people, for as they grow up into Christ and receive the latter rain during the closing work their faces will shine with that light. The clothing made so white that no fuller on earth can whiten it is Christ's righteousness as a bridal robe, provided by Christ and not gained through worldly riches or honor, and wearing it prepares a person to meet the Bridegroom at His coming and enter the marriage supper of the Lamb. The shining garments are also the knowledge and love with which a woman should prepare herself for a life of holy service, toil and self-sacrifice, with ascending the Mount of Transfiguration representing that demanding spiritual calling.