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Mark 9:1 - 13
Oh To Know And Love Him!

If we could really see the glory of our Lord, if we could realize, even just a little, what He truly is - and if we could just keep that vision always before us - it would be of great help to us in our Christian lives. We would love and serve Him much better than we do.

I believe the incident before us today was intended by our Lord to accomplish that very purpose for three of the disciples - and it can be a blessing to us as well as we see it through their eyes.  Therefore, as you read about the transfiguration in Mark 9:1-13, try to do just one thing - try to see our Lord for all that He really is.

Just a week before this time, Jesus told His disciples that if they were going to be in His coming kingdom they'd have to be prepared for rejection, persecution, and even death. The idea hadn't been very acceptable to them. Peter, in fact, told his Master what he thought of it, contrary as it was to the generally accepted notion that Messiah's coming meant freedom from tyranny, exaltation of the Jewish nation, exaltation of Messiah Himself as king (and incidentally, therefore, exaltation of His disciples).

Jesus had used His answer to Peter on that occasion to teach the rest of the disciples as well. He told them that if they wanted to be in His kingdom, then they needed to put aside any thoughts of self exaltation. Instead, they'd have to be prepared to follow Him to the point of giving up self altogether. He told them they'd possibly even have to experience terrible persecution and even death. Their own importance and worth, in fact, was to come through servanthood and seeking the best for one another.

Of course telling them these things didn't change them overnight. They didn't really get it yet. But the experience three of them were to have with the transfiguration just a week later, along with Jesus' death and resurrection - would give them the beginnings of an understanding.

From their youth the disciples had often heard the Law and the Prophets. They had heard the stories of Adam and Eve, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses and Joshua, Saul, David, and all the rest. They knew about the covenant God had made with Abraham and with all the people in Moses' day. They even knew that there was to be a Messiah Who would come through David's family. But with all that, they still didn't see the big picture. The general rebellion of mankind, the redemption of the Church, and the eternal triumph of the Redeemer and His people - these things they didn't know.

And, not knowing these things, they couldn't really understand their Master's mission and how He was going to accomplish it. Soon, however, they'd be forced to understand. Soon, their Lord would be led away and crucified. Soon He would be buried, and the tomb would be sealed. But then He would come out of the tomb alive, and they'd have an entirely new perspective!

Along with that new perspective He Himself was also going to explain it all to them. Acts 1:3 tells us about it. It says, "He also presented Himself alive, after His suffering, by many clear proofs, appearing to them over a period of forty days, and speaking to them of the things concerning the kingdom of God." At the very least they'd begin to understand what He had meant by resurrection!

Then, at Pentecost, fifty days after He ascended from them into Heaven, He would send His Holy Spirit to them to dwell in a new way in their hearts. Jesus' promise would be fulfilled.  He had said, "But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you." (John 14:26) They would really begin to understand the big picture. They'd begin to understand that He was the substitutionary Sacrifice, the Lamb of God, the Head of His body, the Church. They'd begin to understand what He had meant by saying, "The Son of Man must suffer many things, and be rejected by the elders and the chief priests and the scribes, and be killed, and after three days rise again." (Mark 8:31)

The big picture isn't natural for us, either. Of course we do have the advantage of living after the Bible was completed, and by studying it we can understand a bit more than a first-century Jew could. But we're not so advanced as we think. We can study the entire Bible, know all its doctrines, believe all its truth, and even quote it all from memory - and still not really see the big picture or where we ourselves fit into it. We're so focussed on the immediate, on what we want our Lord to do for us right now in our church, in our finances, in our marriage, or in any of our earthly affairs, that, like the disciples, we need the Holy Spirit's special help to see the bigger picture. He alone can help us with that.

Of course He doesn't use magic to give us that understanding. We need to be students of His Word so that its truths can be the pieces of the puzzle that the Holy Spirit helps us put together. Just as it was for the disciples, all the things He has taught us in the past begin to fit together when He shows us where each piece goes. For the disciples, the transfiguration of Jesus on the mount was a very important piece.

In the wonderful vision of Revelation Chapter One John saw the glorified, risen Creator, the Lord of lords and King of kings! Understandably, he was overwhelmed by the vision! He fainted away, falling prostrate before Him! The transfiguration was a similar experience for the three disciples. Peter expressed it pretty well. He was too overwhelmed, so he babbled - for them all. Mark tells us about it when he says, "For he did not know what to answer, for they became terrified." He was so overwhelmed that he simply blurted out whatever came to mind.

That's the right reaction! May God grant us to have it too! God grant us to see our Lord's glory so clearly that we too may be moved to awe, to wonder and to heartfelt worship and adoration.  For Peter, James, and John, the transfiguration was such an opportunity. They become much more aware of Jesus' divine Nature than they had previously been. Much later on, Peter himself tells what it was like. In 2 Pet. 1:16-18 he says, "For we did not follow cleverly devised tales when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this was made to Him by the Majestic Glory: 'This is My beloved Son with Whom I am well pleased' - and we ourselves heard this utterance made from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain."

Up to this point, the disciples had probably thought of the Law and the Prophets as the most important distinctives of their nation. Israel was the chosen nation, and the Law and Prophets were God's voice to them. In their view, to understand and obey the Law, to understand and heed the warnings of the Prophets - was to be a perfect member of the covenant community. To them, the covenantal books of Scripture were sacred - an end in themselves. But the spine-tingling experience of Jesus' transfiguration would at least begin to enable them to break free from such a confining view. In fact, they'd begin to understand even the Law and the Prophets themselves in a new light.

Moses stands in the place of the Law. Elijah stands in the place of all the prophets. But while the disciples were seeing Moses and Elijah speaking with their Master, they were also told by the very voice of God to listen only to His beloved Son!

The Holy Spirit would later on use this experience to convince the disciples that the Law and Prophets were not an end in themselves, but were only meant to bring them to His Son. Then they'd realize that what they thought of as Jewish distinctives were really only helps along the way, helps for all the redeemed from every tribe and tongue, helps that were intended to draw them - and us - to Jesus Christ! They would begin to understand that He was the Savior of all His people, all the elect of God from every nation and in every age. Their narrow views about Judaism and the Jewish Messiah would fade!

Perhaps even more importantly, they would begin to understand the Cross. Very soon after this incident, the death of their Master was going to overwhelm them. Even though He had often told them about it, yet, like us, they heard only what they wanted to hear. When it actually happened, it seemed to them like the end of everything, the end of their dream that Messiah's coming would bring victory for Judaism. But to hear Moses and Elijah speaking with Jesus of His approaching departure (Luke 9:31) would at least help to keep them from total devastation when it happened. Later on, the Holy Spirit would bring this incident to their remembrance, and then they would realize that His death was necessary for the salvation of all the redeemed.

They'd also begin to realize the meaning of what their Lord had told them a week earlier. He had said, "Truly, truly I say to you, there are some standing here who shall in no way taste death until they shall see the Kingdom of God that has come in power."

At the transfiguration three of the disciples did see "the kingdom of God that has come in power." They saw a preview of it, a preview of the risen, glorified King Himself before His Death and Resurrection. Peter, James, and John saw Jesus as Lord indeed!

But, dearly beloved, We need to remember that the Jesus Who is with us today is THAT Jesus! We need the Spirit's help to see and hear Him today. The lesson of the transfiguration is clear: Our Jesus is the reigning KING! We should do what the Voice from heaven said to do - we should listen to Him, obey Him, and trust Him. He's our all-powerful, risen King, and He will care for all of our concerns. We need to meditate on this glorious vision until we are moved to joyful, fearless service! We need to see Him as our own King, as risen Lord of lords and King of kings - so that we can realize that He will accomplish the work of His kingdom in and through us, and that nothing can stop it!  We need a transfiguration in our hearts!

Then, like the disciples, we can move on in our service to Him. Then, finally, we can confidently preach the Gospel, confidently encourage and exhort one another, confidently await His second coming - because THAT One, the One we've seen as LORD is with us! Seeing His glory in that way can help to move us to obey the Scripture's command to "be dilligent to present yourselves approved to God as a workman who does not need to be ashamed, handling accurately the word of truth (2 Tim. 2:15)," and it can give us a measure of confidence of success in our kingdom lives because our risen Lord - the Lord of the transfiguration - will empower us for that life by His Spirit!

And we can look to Him not only to bless us individually, but to care for and bless the local church of which we are a part as well, because He - the transfigured LORD - is its King. So, no matter what you're doing, if you're serving Him, you can succeed because He is that One! Rejoice!

Very well expounded bro, I wonder,
we speak so much to God at times, and seldom listen enough, do we take things too much for granted?
Yes, He is our loving heavenly Father,He cares for us exceedingly, but does familiarity bring some kind of "unholiness" on our part, do we sort of get too familiar,forgetting the Majesty, Holiness and spendour of God?
If so, Lord forgive us and bring us back to the "Holy ground" where we must remove the shoes from our feet and bow before Him, Amen.

Dear bro/sis - I believe His Word should have exactly the effect you mention - it should remove the excess familiarity and restore holy fear.  There is far too much excess familiarity in our day, and there is far too little proper fear and reverence.