Peter Shields His Eyes at the TransfigurationBible World
17:8Matthew 17:8
And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only.
On a lonely mountainside at night, after heavenly light had shone around Him and heavenly visitors had talked with Him of His coming death, the glory faded and the three disciples found only Jesus Himself left with them. The brief sight of Him in majesty was a miniature showing of the kingdom of God come with power, given in answer to prayer to prove Him the promised Son of God and to hold their faith firm when His humiliation and crucifixion would come. Moses and Elijah seen with Him in glory pictured the two classes saved at His second coming, those raised from the dead and those changed without dying and taken to heaven. Their passing away so that only Jesus remained shows that Christ stands pre-eminent above every teacher and authority, whom the Father commands all to hear and obey as law and life. To see Jesus only is the secret and source of power for His followers, who by daily communion and union with His abiding presence behold His beauty until His light and love shine through them for work among suffering souls in the plain below.
Night on Lonely Mountain
The verse closes a night on a lonely mountainside reached after a day of traveling and teaching and a weary ascent at sunset into darkness. Only Peter, James, and John were taken along, the same three who would later witness anguish in Gethsemane, with John among those permitted to see Christ's glory and James standing with Peter and John as a witness of the transfiguration. Jesus stepped apart to pray with strong crying and tears for strength to endure the test for humanity, for a fresh hold on Omnipotence by which to contemplate the future, and for His disciples that their faith would not fail in the hour of the power of darkness. He had told them of His sufferings and brought them that they might unite with Him in prayer and receive assurance that their faith was not in vain, but overcome by weariness they fell asleep.
For a time His humanity was hidden as divinity shone forth, with face shining as the sun and raiment white as light and white and glittering like the noonday sun, so that heaven seemed to be on earth. His soul-agony left His countenance, which shone with serene light in God-like majesty, and holy radiance enshrouded Him as the heavens opened in answer to prayer for strength and for proof of His Messiahship for His disciples. Moses and Elijah appeared with Him in glory, bearing God's glory to the Son to comfort Him and talking with Him about His sufferings and death at Jerusalem and the completion of His mission. They were chosen rather than angels because as men who had lived on earth they had known earthly trials, sorrow, and suffering and could sympathize with Jesus, Moses having talked with God face to face amid Sinai's thunder and lightnings and having stood as leader of Israel in the place of Christ, and Elijah having not seen death but having been taken in a chariot of fire and having represented Christ as prophet to Israel, making them fittest of all around the throne to minister to Him.
Peter in amazement proposed making three tabernacles or shelters to keep Jesus in heavenly communion on the mountain at a safe distance from any earthly tribunal and death on the cross. He forgot that Jesus must suffer and die, expecting instead that the kingdom would be set up on earth. A cloud then overshadowed them and the Father's voice from the bright cloud declared Christ the beloved Son to be heard, and the disciples fell on their faces sore afraid in great fear. Jesus came near, touched them, and told them to arise and not be afraid, and when they lifted their eyes and looked up the heavenly glory and the figures of Moses and Elijah were gone and Jesus alone remained with them. After the heavenly glory passed and they were left on the mount with Jesus alone, He charged them as they came down to tell the vision to no one until He had risen from the dead.
Strength for Coming Suffering
The lifting of the eyes to see no one but Jesus alone was a glimpse of the Saviour's future glory given to Peter, James and John to strengthen them to endure test and trial of faith. They were to bear testimony of what they had seen on the mount, where His divinity shone forth with face as the sun and raiment white as light, with Moses and Elijah appearing and the Father's voice from the bright cloud declaring Him the beloved Son to be heard, so that the faith of the other disciples might also be strengthened.
The manifestation was given in answer to His prayer for strength and for proof of His Messiahship for His disciples, with the heavens opened and holy radiance enshrouding Him until soul-agony left His countenance shining with serene light and His garments became white and glittering like the noonday sun. It was meant to assure them of a surety that Jesus is the Son of God and the promised Messiah, acknowledged by God's voice declaring His divinity and by Moses and Elijah paying Him homage. That sight and heavenly testimony to His divine character gave strong proof they could not doubt and removed their doubts.
It was to comfort them in the hour of His supreme agony with the knowledge that He is of a surety the Son of God and that His shameful death is part of the plan of redemption. Sorrow and disappointment at His humiliation and crucifixion would then not destroy their confidence, and they would have strength to endure His humiliation and crucifixion.
The glory by which the Father glorified Him also strengthened Jesus Himself before His betrayal and crucifixion. The burden of His prayer had been that the disciples be given a manifestation of the glory He had with the Father before the world was, that His kingdom be revealed to human eyes and they be strengthened to behold it.
Kingdom Seen in Miniature
The lifting of the eyes to see Jesus alone belongs to the transfiguration, which fulfilled His promise that some standing with Him would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God come with power. What they saw was the kingdom of Christ shown in miniature. In it Jesus appeared clothed with heaven's glory, His changed and radiant appearance revealing His majesty, and He was declared by the Father's voice to be the Son of God.
In that miniature view Moses stood for those who will be raised from the dead at Christ's second coming. Elijah stood for those who will then be alive and be changed from mortal to immortal and be taken to heaven without dying. Together with Jesus revealed in heavenly light they gave a miniature view of the kingdom of the redeemed.
Moses and Elijah spoke with Jesus about His sufferings and death and brought the glory of heaven to comfort Him and to converse about the completion of His mission, especially His coming sufferings at Jerusalem. They were chosen for this rather than angels because as men who had lived on earth they had known earthly trials, sorrow and suffering and could sympathize with Him. Moses was the one who had talked with God face to face amid the thunder and lightnings of Sinai and who had stood as leader of Israel in the place of Christ, and Elijah was the one who did not see death but was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire and who had represented Christ as prophet to Israel. For this they were fittest of all around the throne to minister to Him.
Christ Alone Remains Supreme
After Moses and Elijah disappeared, only Jesus remained before the disciples. This remaining of Jesus alone means that Christ stands pre-eminent above every teacher and authority in the world. When the heavenly manifestation had served its purpose, the attention of the disciples rested on Jesus alone. That display of His divinity was meant to remove their doubts and assure them that He was the Son of God, and to comfort them through His humiliation and death. The Father's voice from the cloud commanding to hear Him means that every word Christ utters is to be obeyed as law and as life, and it is for the eternal interest of every son and daughter of Adam to give that attention.
Remembered in Later Trials
The transfiguration is to be borne in mind together with the accounts of suffering, death and resurrection as future scenes opened before the disciples. It belongs with the whole account in Matthew 17 and with the Last Supper, arrest, trial, suffering, death and resurrection in Matthew 26:26-75, Matthew 27 and Matthew 28, together showing the work and triumph of the risen Saviour. In Gethsemane the same glory was revealed around Jesus again, and the glory seen on the mount came back to the disciples' minds. Remembering God's presence and voice, they were reassured that God had taken charge of Him and that a mighty angel was present to protect and strengthen Him, so they no longer feared for Him. Even so, they then fell asleep again.
The glory that had strengthened their faith that He was the Son of God was remembered by them during His trial. Yet they still hoped He would use His power to escape death and defeat His enemies. Standing before the Sanhedrin, the apostles showed they had been with Jesus, so that Jesus only was seen in them. Their fearless speech in the power of the Spirit was like His speech, without fear, silencing adversaries and compelling even hostile priests to recognize that they had been with Jesus.
Coming down from the mountain where He had been proclaimed the Son of God in radiant glory, Jesus met and healed a boy enslaved by Satan. The contrast sets glory above against suffering below and shows His power to free the child and restore him. The Divine One stooping from the Father's glory to save the lost is an object lesson of redemption. The mount is a place to behold Christ's glory, but His servants have work among suffering people in the plain and not only in moments of illumination. Those who have seen it are to carry faith and prayer into the valley where souls enslaved by Satan wait for the word that sets them free.
Living With Jesus Only
Seeing no one but Jesus alone holds the secret of the early church's life and power, its focus and its source. The disciples had sought Him, found Him, followed Him, and learned from Him daily. After His ascension His loving personal presence still remained with them as friend and Saviour, still identified with suffering humanity and presenting the merit of His blood before God for the redeemed. That assurance strengthened them to endure reproach for His sake. Their union with Him became even stronger than when He had been physically with them, and His indwelling light and love and power shone through them.
Being with Jesus on the mountain before going forth on mission shows the importance of communion with Christ before undertaking service. To stand with Christ on the mount is to behold His beauty as chiefest among ten thousand and altogether lovely until the soul becomes radiant in the presence of His glory. To those on whom the glory of the Lord has thus risen comes the word to arise and shine and to go down from the mount into the plain. There souls enslaved by Satan are waiting for the word of faith and prayer to set them free. The one who stands nearest to Christ is he who on earth has drunk most deeply of the spirit of His self-sacrificing love, love that lives and labors and sacrifices even unto death for the saving of humanity.
The mount of transfiguration is an image of the ascent to which woman is called. It is a demanding path of strength and endurance and fervor, of toil and self-sacrifice.
On a lonely mountainside at night, after heavenly light had shone around Him and heavenly visitors had talked with Him of His coming death, the glory faded and the three disciples found only Jesus Himself left with them. The brief sight of Him in majesty was a miniature showing of the kingdom of God come with power, given in answer to prayer to prove Him the promised Son of God and to hold their faith firm when His humiliation and crucifixion would come. Moses and Elijah seen with Him in glory pictured the two classes saved at His second coming, those raised from the dead and those changed without dying and taken to heaven. Their passing away so that only Jesus remained shows that Christ stands pre-eminent above every teacher and authority, whom the Father commands all to hear and obey as law and life. To see Jesus only is the secret and source of power for His followers, who by daily communion and union with His abiding presence behold His beauty until His light and love shine through them for work among suffering souls in the plain below.
Night on Lonely Mountain
The verse closes a night on a lonely mountainside reached after a day of traveling and teaching and a weary ascent at sunset into darkness. Only Peter, James, and John were taken along, the same three who would later witness anguish in Gethsemane, with John among those permitted to see Christ's glory and James standing with Peter and John as a witness of the transfiguration. Jesus stepped apart to pray with strong crying and tears for strength to endure the test for humanity, for a fresh hold on Omnipotence by which to contemplate the future, and for His disciples that their faith would not fail in the hour of the power of darkness. He had told them of His sufferings and brought them that they might unite with Him in prayer and receive assurance that their faith was not in vain, but overcome by weariness they fell asleep.
For a time His humanity was hidden as divinity shone forth, with face shining as the sun and raiment white as light and white and glittering like the noonday sun, so that heaven seemed to be on earth. His soul-agony left His countenance, which shone with serene light in God-like majesty, and holy radiance enshrouded Him as the heavens opened in answer to prayer for strength and for proof of His Messiahship for His disciples. Moses and Elijah appeared with Him in glory, bearing God's glory to the Son to comfort Him and talking with Him about His sufferings and death at Jerusalem and the completion of His mission. They were chosen rather than angels because as men who had lived on earth they had known earthly trials, sorrow, and suffering and could sympathize with Jesus, Moses having talked with God face to face amid Sinai's thunder and lightnings and having stood as leader of Israel in the place of Christ, and Elijah having not seen death but having been taken in a chariot of fire and having represented Christ as prophet to Israel, making them fittest of all around the throne to minister to Him.
Peter in amazement proposed making three tabernacles or shelters to keep Jesus in heavenly communion on the mountain at a safe distance from any earthly tribunal and death on the cross. He forgot that Jesus must suffer and die, expecting instead that the kingdom would be set up on earth. A cloud then overshadowed them and the Father's voice from the bright cloud declared Christ the beloved Son to be heard, and the disciples fell on their faces sore afraid in great fear. Jesus came near, touched them, and told them to arise and not be afraid, and when they lifted their eyes and looked up the heavenly glory and the figures of Moses and Elijah were gone and Jesus alone remained with them. After the heavenly glory passed and they were left on the mount with Jesus alone, He charged them as they came down to tell the vision to no one until He had risen from the dead.
Strength for Coming Suffering
The lifting of the eyes to see no one but Jesus alone was a glimpse of the Saviour's future glory given to Peter, James and John to strengthen them to endure test and trial of faith. They were to bear testimony of what they had seen on the mount, where His divinity shone forth with face as the sun and raiment white as light, with Moses and Elijah appearing and the Father's voice from the bright cloud declaring Him the beloved Son to be heard, so that the faith of the other disciples might also be strengthened.
The manifestation was given in answer to His prayer for strength and for proof of His Messiahship for His disciples, with the heavens opened and holy radiance enshrouding Him until soul-agony left His countenance shining with serene light and His garments became white and glittering like the noonday sun. It was meant to assure them of a surety that Jesus is the Son of God and the promised Messiah, acknowledged by God's voice declaring His divinity and by Moses and Elijah paying Him homage. That sight and heavenly testimony to His divine character gave strong proof they could not doubt and removed their doubts.
It was to comfort them in the hour of His supreme agony with the knowledge that He is of a surety the Son of God and that His shameful death is part of the plan of redemption. Sorrow and disappointment at His humiliation and crucifixion would then not destroy their confidence, and they would have strength to endure His humiliation and crucifixion.
The glory by which the Father glorified Him also strengthened Jesus Himself before His betrayal and crucifixion. The burden of His prayer had been that the disciples be given a manifestation of the glory He had with the Father before the world was, that His kingdom be revealed to human eyes and they be strengthened to behold it.
Kingdom Seen in Miniature
The lifting of the eyes to see Jesus alone belongs to the transfiguration, which fulfilled His promise that some standing with Him would not taste death until they saw the kingdom of God come with power. What they saw was the kingdom of Christ shown in miniature. In it Jesus appeared clothed with heaven's glory, His changed and radiant appearance revealing His majesty, and He was declared by the Father's voice to be the Son of God.
In that miniature view Moses stood for those who will be raised from the dead at Christ's second coming. Elijah stood for those who will then be alive and be changed from mortal to immortal and be taken to heaven without dying. Together with Jesus revealed in heavenly light they gave a miniature view of the kingdom of the redeemed.
Moses and Elijah spoke with Jesus about His sufferings and death and brought the glory of heaven to comfort Him and to converse about the completion of His mission, especially His coming sufferings at Jerusalem. They were chosen for this rather than angels because as men who had lived on earth they had known earthly trials, sorrow and suffering and could sympathize with Him. Moses was the one who had talked with God face to face amid the thunder and lightnings of Sinai and who had stood as leader of Israel in the place of Christ, and Elijah was the one who did not see death but was taken to heaven in a chariot of fire and who had represented Christ as prophet to Israel. For this they were fittest of all around the throne to minister to Him.
Christ Alone Remains Supreme
After Moses and Elijah disappeared, only Jesus remained before the disciples. This remaining of Jesus alone means that Christ stands pre-eminent above every teacher and authority in the world. When the heavenly manifestation had served its purpose, the attention of the disciples rested on Jesus alone. That display of His divinity was meant to remove their doubts and assure them that He was the Son of God, and to comfort them through His humiliation and death. The Father's voice from the cloud commanding to hear Him means that every word Christ utters is to be obeyed as law and as life, and it is for the eternal interest of every son and daughter of Adam to give that attention.
Remembered in Later Trials
The transfiguration is to be borne in mind together with the accounts of suffering, death and resurrection as future scenes opened before the disciples. It belongs with the whole account in Matthew 17 and with the Last Supper, arrest, trial, suffering, death and resurrection in Matthew 26:26-75, Matthew 27 and Matthew 28, together showing the work and triumph of the risen Saviour. In Gethsemane the same glory was revealed around Jesus again, and the glory seen on the mount came back to the disciples' minds. Remembering God's presence and voice, they were reassured that God had taken charge of Him and that a mighty angel was present to protect and strengthen Him, so they no longer feared for Him. Even so, they then fell asleep again.
The glory that had strengthened their faith that He was the Son of God was remembered by them during His trial. Yet they still hoped He would use His power to escape death and defeat His enemies. Standing before the Sanhedrin, the apostles showed they had been with Jesus, so that Jesus only was seen in them. Their fearless speech in the power of the Spirit was like His speech, without fear, silencing adversaries and compelling even hostile priests to recognize that they had been with Jesus.
Coming down from the mountain where He had been proclaimed the Son of God in radiant glory, Jesus met and healed a boy enslaved by Satan. The contrast sets glory above against suffering below and shows His power to free the child and restore him. The Divine One stooping from the Father's glory to save the lost is an object lesson of redemption. The mount is a place to behold Christ's glory, but His servants have work among suffering people in the plain and not only in moments of illumination. Those who have seen it are to carry faith and prayer into the valley where souls enslaved by Satan wait for the word that sets them free.
Living With Jesus Only
Seeing no one but Jesus alone holds the secret of the early church's life and power, its focus and its source. The disciples had sought Him, found Him, followed Him, and learned from Him daily. After His ascension His loving personal presence still remained with them as friend and Saviour, still identified with suffering humanity and presenting the merit of His blood before God for the redeemed. That assurance strengthened them to endure reproach for His sake. Their union with Him became even stronger than when He had been physically with them, and His indwelling light and love and power shone through them.
Being with Jesus on the mountain before going forth on mission shows the importance of communion with Christ before undertaking service. To stand with Christ on the mount is to behold His beauty as chiefest among ten thousand and altogether lovely until the soul becomes radiant in the presence of His glory. To those on whom the glory of the Lord has thus risen comes the word to arise and shine and to go down from the mount into the plain. There souls enslaved by Satan are waiting for the word of faith and prayer to set them free. The one who stands nearest to Christ is he who on earth has drunk most deeply of the spirit of His self-sacrificing love, love that lives and labors and sacrifices even unto death for the saving of humanity.
The mount of transfiguration is an image of the ascent to which woman is called. It is a demanding path of strength and endurance and fervor, of toil and self-sacrifice.