Mark 9:7
And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him. And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him.
On a lonely mountainside at night Jesus is glorified before Peter, James and John, His face shining like the sun and His clothing white and glistening as a bright cloud overshadows them and the Father's voice in terrible majesty proclaims Him the beloved Son who must be heard and obeyed. The voice gives divine authority to Christ and His words, confirming His divine identity and sonship and giving strong proof that He is the promised Messiah. In this glory the kingdom of Christ is shown in miniature, fulfilling His promise that some standing with Him would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God come with power. Moses and Elijah appear with Him talking of His coming suffering and death at Jerusalem, representing the law and the prophets in agreement with Him and representing in miniature the redeemed, Moses those raised from the dead at His coming and Elijah those translated without seeing death. The manifestation is given to strengthen the disciples' faith for His humiliation and crucifixion so they will not cast away their confidence, and to strengthen Jesus Himself before His betrayal and suffering.
Mount Setting and Voice
It is night on a lonely mountainside when Jesus leads only Peter, James, and John up after a day of traveling and teaching and a wearying ascent. He withdraws apart from them to pray for strength to endure the test for humanity and that in the hour of the power of darkness their faith may not fail. Only these three are chosen because not even all of the twelve can receive the revelation, and they are the three who will witness His anguish in Gethsemane. The burden of His prayer that the voice answers is that they be given a manifestation of the glory He had with the Father before the world was, that His kingdom be revealed to human eyes, that they witness a manifestation of His divinity to strengthen them, and that they know of a surety He is the Son of God and that His shameful death is part of the plan of redemption to comfort them in His supreme agony.
On the mount Jesus is glorified and honored by the Father, with heavenly light surrounding Him and His divine majesty revealed. His face is changed and lighted with divine glory shining like the sun, His clothing is white and glistening, and His divine glory shines through His humanity as much as the disciples can bear. God lifts Him above humanity to commune with Him and bears glory to His beloved Son, strengthening Him before His betrayal and crucifixion and the sufferings that followed. That glorification lasts only a brief space, a few short hours.
A bright, glorious cloud overshadows them, brighter than the cloud that went before Israel in the wilderness. The Father's voice in terrible majesty comes out of the radiant glory from heaven, from the excellent glory. Its majesty makes the mountain tremble and fills the disciples with fear and astonishment, so they fall to the ground facedown hiding their faces until Jesus touches them and tells them to rise and not be afraid.
The voice identifies Jesus as God's beloved Son in whom He is well pleased and commands that He be heard and obeyed. It gives divine authority to Christ and His words, confirming His authority and divine identity, giving strong proof that He is the promised Messiah and truly the Son of God. He is the divine antitype, and all power in heaven and earth is given to Him. Together with the homage paid to Him by Moses and Elijah, it is a visible token of His divinity given to strengthen belief that He was all He claimed to be and to remove doubts and assure the disciples of His divine sonship.
The same voice testifying to His identity at the transfiguration joins the voice at His baptism, before the Father speaks again just before His betrayal.
Moses and Elijah appear with Jesus and speak with Him about the suffering He will face in Jerusalem in completing His mission, about His sufferings and death. They are sent to talk with Him and comfort Him, chosen instead of angels because they have experience in the trials of earth. Their presence represents the law and the prophets, which agree with Christ's teaching and are not abolished by the gospel; the new dispensation embraces the Old.
James with Peter and John witnesses Christ glorified; James is one of the three disciples who see this event. The few followers permitted to be with Jesus see His glory and hear the voice with their own ears as eyewitnesses of His majesty.
Peter mistakes the vision as a sign that Christ's earthly kingdom is about to be established and that the heavenly messengers will honor Him and protect Him from danger and death. He forgets that the plan of salvation must be fulfilled through Jesus' suffering and death, and this hope of glory meaning an earthly kingdom and protection is mistaken.
Only a brief space after the glorification Jesus descends the mount to meet grief and suffering. He stoops to lift the demon-tormented and demon-possessed child wallowing on the ground and restores him to his father freed forever from Satan's power, joining the extremes of glory and grief together.
Kingdom in Miniature
The transfiguration fulfilled Jesus' promise that some standing with Him would not see death and would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God come with power. Jesus clothed with the glory of Heaven and proclaimed by the Father's voice to be the Son of God showed the kingdom of Christ in miniature, a miniature view of Christ's kingdom in glory and a symbol of it. It was a revelation of His heavenly glory and majesty, with His face changed and shining like the sun and His clothing white and glistening, while the cloud overshadowed the disciples and the voice of God in terrible majesty affirmed Jesus as God's Son who must be heard and obeyed, filling them with fear and astonishment. Near the close of Christ's earthly ministry the disciples saw in Moses and Elijah beside Jesus standing clothed with the light of heaven a representation in miniature of the kingdom of the redeemed. Moses was present as the pattern and representative of those who will be raised from the dead at Christ's second coming and second appearing and at the time of the second advent. Elijah was present as the pattern and representative of those who will be living at Christ's appearing and at the close of earth's history and be changed from mortal to immortal and translated to Heaven without seeing death and without dying.
Peter with the others was with Him on the holy mount when Jesus received honor and glory from God the Father and the voice came from the excellent glory from heaven declaring Him the beloved Son in whom the Father is well pleased. He heard the voice from heaven with his own ears as an eyewitness of His majesty, seeing with his own eyesight what pertained to the kingdom of God during the earthly ministry of Christ. This eyewitness sight and hearing proves that making known the power and coming of the Lord Jesus Christ is not following cunningly devised fables, and it qualifies Peter to speak of the purposes of God concerning the human race. The heavenly voice from the cloud testified to Jesus' divine character and gave strong proof that He is the promised Messiah and truly the Son of God. It was a visible token of His divinity given to strengthen belief that He was all He claimed to be and to strengthen the faith of His followers so they would not cast away their confidence in their coming bitter sorrow and disappointment. Together with the homage paid to Him by Moses and Elijah, who were sent to talk with Him about His sufferings and death and chosen instead of angels because they had experience in the trials of earth, this divine testimony removed doubts and assured the disciples of His divine sonship.
The manifestation on the mountain was given to strengthen the disciples' faith for the coming trial and to assure them that His humiliation and death were part of God's plan of redemption. It served as a symbol of Christ's kingdom and helped the disciples understand His mission, that His death was necessary for His glory, the Father's glory, and the human race's share in that glory.
Strength for Trial and Mission
The display of His divinity and the preview of His future glory were given to steady the disciples' faith for His humiliation and crucifixion and to comfort them in His coming suffering and death, so they would not throw away their confidence in their coming bitter sorrow and disappointment. The voice from the cloud affirmed Him as the beloved Son who must be heard, while Moses and Elijah appeared with Him and spoke of His sufferings and death, chosen rather than angels because they had known earth's trials. Their presence showed the law and the prophets in agreement with His teaching and not abolished by the gospel, with the new dispensation embracing the Old. That divine testimony, joined to the homage paid Him by Moses and Elijah, gave strong proof that He was the promised Messiah and truly the Son of God, removing doubts and assuring them that His humiliation and death belonged to God's plan of redemption.
The Father also glorified Jesus on the mount to strengthen Him Himself before His betrayal and crucifixion and the sufferings that followed. Remembering that voice and glory steadied the disciples as they watched Him on trial to still hold Him to be the Son of God, and reassured them that God had taken Him in charge and that an angel was present to protect Him. Yet their hopes rose and fell, and they doubted and feared they had been deceived. Together with the miracles they remembered, that memory made them expect Him to show divine power to free Himself from His enemies and punish them, made them unable to believe He would die, and made them hope He would still rise in power, scatter the multitude, and prove Himself King of Israel.
His glory above and His descent to rescue the enslaved boy together form one lesson of redemption, that the Divine One comes down from the Father's glory to save the lost. The glory revealed on the mount is therefore joined to the work waiting below, where people enslaved by Satan can be set free only by faith and prayer. The scene defines His servants' mission as including help for those enslaved by Satan and labor for the salvation of others, not merely seeking spiritual illumination with Him on the height. Hearing Him is expressed in self-sacrificing love that works for others' salvation.
The glory then shown also points forward to the glory that will attend God's faithful people in their final conflict, when as they grow up into Christ and share His spirit the latter rain will revive and strengthen them and their faces will shine with the light attending the third angel. The mount of transfiguration likewise stands as the pattern for the ascent required of women, a life of strength, endurance, fervor, learning, love, toil, and self-sacrifice, with worldly idols burned away in service of a holy calling.