The Lord is awe-inspiring, fearsome, fascinating, intriguing, majestic, and full of splendor: breathtaking! Here is what I saw of him and what came to my mind and heart in Luke 9:30-31,
"Two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared in glorious splendor, talking with Jesus."
What a fascinating account! Often referred to as the "mount of transfiguration", it is an astonishing event that captures the imagination. Jesus takes his inner circle of disciples, Peter, James and John, up on a mountain and begins to pray. While in prayer, Jesus' appearance transforms - changes. Luke tells us his face changed and his clothes became as bright as "a flash of lightning." Two Old Testament figures appeared, Moses and Elijah, and had a conversation with Jesus. Luke reports that the topic was about "his departure" a reference to the sacrifice of atonement Jesus was going to fulfill.
A couple of thoughts come to mind as I read of this stunning event. The first is that it needs to be acknowledged that when Jesus came to planet Earth, it wasn't disconnected in any way from all of the activities and involvement of God in the affairs of mankind prior to his arrival. In other words, the discontinuity provided by having the cannon of Scripture divided into "Old" and "New" testaments can be misleading. In the appearance of Moses and Elijah with Jesus, we need to recognize the events of Christmas, the arrival of John's ministry of repentance in preparing the way of the Lord, and the Lord's own earthly work were all part and parcel of all of God's activities up to that point. The law given to Moses prefigured the coming Lamb of God who would come as a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the world and the ministry of the prophets, represented in Israel's history, spoke of the coming Messiah, the One who will, one day, bring the nation of Israel back to her God.
Another thought that strikes me is that Jesus included his "inner circle" of disciples because he wanted an account of this provided to us following the events that lay ahead. The topic of discussion between Jesus, Moses and Elijah was about Jesus "departure". We are told that Peter, James and John kept this event to themselves and didn't tell anyone about it till later. The Lord had his reasons for keeping this event from being known until a time he thought best.
I can only imagine the state of mind of these three disciples. They knew Moses and Elijah had appeared from the dead, they witnessed the transformational glory manifesting itself from Jesus and they heard God, from within the cloud say, "This is my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him." We are told they were afraid when the cloud from which God spoke enveloped them. In Matthew's account of the event, we are told that Jesus' face "shone like the sun" and when the voice of God spoke they "fell facedown to the ground, terrified." Matthew 17:6.
There is much more to real life than what we encounter on a daily basis. The Scriptures are full of accounts where someone has seen or experienced something out of the ordinary. There is so much that is "cloaked" from us. We don't normally see the reality of spiritual activity that I am certain takes place all around us each day. We don't see the angels, we can't peer into the things of heaven as Paul did in the vision he talks of in 2 Corinthians 12:1-6, where he speaks of being caught up to paradise, hearing things inexpressible that "man is not permitted to tell." We don't normally see the angels ascending and descending between heaven and earth as Jacob did in Genesis 28:10-15. Of course, the one overwhelming spiritual reality that is hidden from us, for now, is the penetrating and piercing glory of God that emanates from him, a blinding light that Paul calls "unapproachable". In his letter to Timothy he says, "... God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see." 1 Timothy 6:15-16.
What exists in reality transcends our every day experience. I am certain that one reason for this is that it provides the opportunity for faith to manifest itself within our hearts. How fascinating when the veil is lifted and we are provided a "peek" at the uncommon, the astonishing and the breath-taking, even through the eyes of others - an opportunity provided us in the pages of Scripture.
Anything of the Lord capture your heart from Scripture today? Share your thoughts of worship with us from your Bible reading today. We'd love to hear from you!
Trevor Fisk
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