The Transfiguration: On the Mountain with Jesus - Mark 9:1-13

On the Mountain with Jesus

Mark 9:1-13

Introduction: The transfiguration was, for the inner circle of the disciples, both literally and spiritually a “mountain top” experience. It was a revelation that, for a time, they would need to keep to themselves, but which would no doubt provoke them to consider more deeply what it revealed about who Jesus is, and even invite them to consider what He came to do. They didn’t get it then, but after the cross and resurrection their minds would be opened, and this experience on the mountaintop would be with them the rest of their lives. We read in 2 Pet 1:16-18,

¹⁶ For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of his majesty.  ¹⁷ For when he received honor and glory from God the Father, and the voice was borne to him by the Majestic Glory, "This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased,"  ¹⁸ we ourselves heard this very voice borne from heaven, for we were with him on the holy mountain.

That was a mountain top experience that would bolster their faith even in the valleys of persecution, imprisonment, and exile. Even as they faced the sword!

Context (1). Jesus was just teaching on the cost of discipleship, and His allusion to the coming glory of the Son is followed by a reference to the coming of the Kingdom in power…

And he said to them, "Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power." 

Scholars debate quite bit about the reference to seeing the kingdom of God after it has come with power. To what is Jesus referring? There are no doubt other elements yet to come—the Cross, the Resurrection, Pentecost—all revealed the advance of the plan of God for those with eyes to see. Even the destruction of the Temple in AD 70, nearly forty years later, would be a sign that the time for those provisional sacrifices was past, Jews and Gentiles alike must come to God on His terms, through faith in the Son.  Yet this revelation of the Son, without question, is a glimpse ahead to the glory with which He will rule the nations in power.

The Maine* Idea: Jesus is the promised Rescuer, the Son of God, who would lay down his life to save us, and then be vindicated in the resurrection. Hear Him!

I. Look: The transfiguration (2-4). Do we have eyes to see? Jesus is the “radiance of the glory of God…” (Heb 1:3).

² And after six days Jesus took with him Peter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them,  ³ and his clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them.  ⁴ And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. 

      This journey up the mountain and the subsequent revelation is also related in Matthew and Luke, with some additional details. Calvin called this scene a “…temporary exhibition of His glory…” His deity had largely been veiled by His human nature through the years since the virgin birth. Now, as the Cross is drawing nearer, for a moment, the glory of God shines through, revealing to these disciples His divine nature. They had confessed Him as messiah, but they needed to understand more fully what that title meant as it applied to Him, the God-Man.

       It was six days after Peter’s confession (on behalf of the disciples) that Jesus is the Messiah. Also, it is six days since He began to plainly teach them that it was necessary for Him to be rejected, suffer, die, and be raised from the dead. They didn’t yet understand, they only saw in part. So, Jesus takes a smaller group with Him up the mountain, and they get some “intensive training”!

       We don’t know for certain which mountain this scene took place on. Since they were, the last we know, in Caesarea Philippi, it is reasonable to guess that it may have been Mount Hermon, the highest mountain in the region. Luke, as he frequently does in his gospel, lets us know that they went up the mountain to pray. In light of the journey to Jerusalem that would follow, and what had to happen when they got there, we can see a prelude to Gethsemane as the impending weight of what Jesus would accomplish for us drew nearer.

       Jesus took these three with Him, apart from the others, and on the mountain He was transfigured before them. The Greek word used is the same root from which we get our English word metamorphosis. His form changed, his clothes became radiant, intensely white. Matthew adds the detail that “…his face shone like the sun…” (Matt 17:2).  As if that wasn’t awesome enough, then Moses and Elijah appear, and are talking with Jesus!  The scene, and the appearance of these two prominent Old Testament characters, drives our minds back to other moments when God’s glory was revealed. That is how the disciples took it, at least in retrospect. John would later write, “…we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father…” (John 1:14b). The writer to the Hebrews understood, “…He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature…” (Heb 1:3a). And as I noted earlier Peter said in 2 Peter 1:16, “…we were eyewitnesses of his majesty…” There are some mountaintop moments we will never forget! This was one such moment for Peter, James, and John.

       Have you been on the mountain with Jesus? I don’t mean literally, but spiritually? Maybe, when you first believed? When you experienced a moment of rededication or commitment? He is still there! Remember the story of the old man and his wife driving in their car. She looks out the car window, then across the car’s bench seat to her husband. She asks, “Dear, why don’t we sit close together like we used to?” He looks from behind the steering wheel, and said, “Well, I haven’t moved!” God hasn’t moved! Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you! Remember, He sent His Son, Jesus, the promised One, who would lay down his life to save us, and then be vindicated in the resurrection. Listen to Him!

II. Listen: In Word and Action hear the Father affirm the Son (5-8)!

⁵ And Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah."  ⁶ For he did not know what to say, for they were terrified.  ⁷ And a cloud overshadowed them, and a voice came out of the cloud, "This is my beloved Son; listen to him."  ⁸ And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus...

       Peter’s “reaction” (5-6). As usual, Peter speaks first. Rather than taking time to look and listen, he speaks, perhaps rashly. R.C. Sproul says the implication is that he was “babbling.” Mark explains, he didn’t know what to say, and they were all terrified. Not so surprising considering the circumstances!

       There are a lot of things we don’t know about this scene. For example, how did the disciples know that these two guys were Moses and Elijah? They didn’t have any pictures… or paintings, not even a description to go by! They weren’t wearing name tags! I am pretty sure they hadn’t seen Charlton Heston in The Ten Commandments!  It must be that they were given illumination, revelation from God. He opened their eyes to the identity of these men of God from the Old Testament. What motivated Peter to suggest building tents for the three? We can only speculate. Luke alone tells us that Moses and Elijah were speaking with Jesus about His departure that would be accomplished in Jerusalem. The word translated “departure” is not a common one in the New Testament, you might recognize it: exodos. It is used elsewhere to signify the departure of God’s people from bondage in Egypt. Would the presence of Moses on the mountain have been enough to cause Peter to reflect on the Exodus from Egypt? And why Elijah?

       My initial thought was that these two men represented the Law and the Prophets, that is, the Old Testament Scriptures that Christ came to fulfill. I think that is true, but there is more to it. God first revealed himself to Moses in the burning bush, calling on him to lead the people out of bondage. Where did that happen? At a mountain, Horeb (Sinai), the Mountain of God (Exod 3:1). Moses later went up that same mountain to receive the Law, and there experienced the glory of the presence of the Lord. When he descended the mountain, his face shone from the reflected glory of God, so much so that he needed to cover his face in the presence of the people! The people had been delivered from Egyptian bondage, but they would quickly show that they needed to be delivered from bondage to sin. Even while Moses was on the mountain, getting the Ten Commandments—which called them to love God alone and told them not to make any graven images—they made a golden calf and worshipped it!

       Five hundred years later or so, after a great victory on one mountain, Elijah would run to another. For forty days and nights he ran from Mount Carmel down to the Sinai and that same mountain. There after a great wind, an earthquake and a fire, he would hear the still, small voice of the Lord. He lamented to God, "I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken your covenant, thrown down your altars, and killed your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away." The people were unfaithful, they had forsaken what? The Covenant. The Law that had been given when God revealed himself to Moses on the Mountain. Now, on another mountain, the Son is revealed, and He is speaking with Elijah and Moses.

       The Father’s Revelation (7-8). What a powerful revelation in word and act of the same truth that the writer to Hebrews expressed: “Long ago, at many times and in many ways, God spoke to our fathers by the prophets,  ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son…” (Heb 1:1,2). The cloud enveloped all of them, including Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. The Father says “THIS ONE is my beloved Son, hear Him!” The cloud lifts, Jesus is there alone. Not Moses or Elijah, but Jesus is the promised Son, the Rescuer for whom they had been waiting! Kent Hughs said,

“For a brief moment the veil of Jesus’ humanity was lifted and His true essence was allowed to shine through. The glory which was always in the depths of His being rose to the surface for that one time in His earthly life. Or, put another way, He slipped back into eternity to His pre-human glory. It was a glance back and a look forward into His future glory!”

This same Jesus is the promised Rescuer, the Son of God, who came to lay down his life to save us, and afterward be vindicated in the resurrection. Hear Him!

III. Learn: The Father’s plan must unfold as it is written (9-13).

⁹ And as they were coming down the mountain, he charged them to tell no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.  ¹⁰ So they kept the matter to themselves, questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.  ¹¹ And they asked him, "Why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?"  ¹² And he said to them, "Elijah does come first to restore all things. And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt?  ¹³ But I tell you that Elijah has come, and they did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him."

      Jesus’ Restriction (9-10). For a time at least, this mountain top experience was not something to be shared. Just as Jesus had told all the disciples back in Mark 8:30 after Peter’s confession that Jesus is the Messiah, to “tell no one,” here He tells the inner circle, Peter, James, and John, not to say anything until the Son of Man has risen from the dead. He continues to teach them, laying a foundation for their understanding of the Gospel when their minds would be opened after the resurrection. Once again, the disciples fall short in understanding what Jesus is talking about, “questioning what this rising from the dead might mean.” They can’t grasp the truth of what He was saying, what had to happen. “What is this about rising from the dead? He is right here with us!” They didn’t understand yet what He had begun to plainly teach about the necessity of His suffering, death, and resurrection. They were getting a sense of who He is, but didn’t yet fully grasp why He had come. So, they change the subject. What about Elijah coming first?  In fact, we do read in Malachi 4:4-5, right at the end of the Old Testament…

⁴ "Remember the law of my servant Moses, the statutes and rules that I commanded him at [Mount] Horeb for all Israel.  ⁵ "Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the great and awesome day of the LORD comes.” 

Remember Moses, the Law he received on the mountain, the promise that He would send Elijah… They had just been on a mountain, and seen Jesus transformed, Moses and Elijah talking to Him, a cloud descending over them as it had at Horeb, and heard the voice of the Father! Then Jesus clarifies that Elijah has come, and they did whatever they wished to him. Matthew tells us that then the disciples understood that He was talking about John the Baptist, who, as his parents were told, came in “the spirit and power of Elijah” (Luke 1:17). Jesus points ahead to the cross, essentially saying that as He will suffer and be put to death, the forerunner experienced that same treatment by the world: “And how is it written of the Son of Man that he should suffer many things and be treated with contempt?” They did the same thing to John!  Martin Luther called this “the theology of the Cross,” that is, there is no path to glory, except through suffering.

What is God saying to me in this passage? Jesus is the promised Rescuer, the Son of God, who would lay down his life to save us, and then be vindicated in the resurrection. Hear Him!

What would God have me to do in response to this passage? Think about that gathering in the upper room, 2,000 years ago. Jesus, celebrating the Passover meal with his disciples, remembering the deliverance from Egypt. That meal was an invitation to look back and remember the redemption that God had provided, leading His people out of slavery, and eventually, into the promised land. The disciples would only understand afterward what Jesus meant when He said, “This cup is the New Covenant in my blood…” For months Jesus had been teaching the disciples that is was necessary for the Son of Man to suffer and be killed, and to be raised up on the third day. A small group of them saw even more as Jesus was transfigured on the mountain, as He conferred with Elijah and Moses. They heard the voice from the cloud: “THIS is my beloved Son, hear Him!” Mark Strauss said,

The promise of the transfiguration is that this suffering and sacrifice are not in vain. The vision of the glorified Christ is confirmation that after His humiliation, suffering, and death will come his vindication and glorification. This is a message not just about Jesus, but about all who follow him in authentic discipleship. Whatever the difficulties we face in this life, God is the sovereign Lord of history, who will restore and reward all who remain faithful to him… (Mark, p.391).

Or, as the apostle Paul wrote, “…the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us…” (Rom 8:18).

      This table is a call to remember who He is, the eternal Son of God, the One through whom and by whom and for whom the universe had been created! Remember also what He did for us: He left the glory of heaven and came into this sin-cursed world to die for our sins, to reconcile us to God! He said, “Do this in remembrance of Me.” We are called to remember the Cross, and in view of what He has done for us, to be willing to take up our cross, and follow Him.  Let this table be a time to look back with thanksgiving, and to look ahead in faith. AMEN.