Mark part 40…Dec.2nd 2015
Chapter 9:2-8
In chapter 8 verse 29 Jesus asked Peter the most powerful and important question that
could ever be asked…
Who do you say I am?
Peter without hesitation said, You are the Christ the Son of the Living God.
Peter said that by the only thing he had to go with and that was faith.
It was Peter’s statement of faith that leads to the events in verses 2-8.
When Peter made that statement by faith he made it with the anticipation that the
Kingdom would come immediately.
But as soon as Peter is feeling good about it all in 8:31 Jesus began to teach them that the Son of
Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and the scribes and be killed and then
in three days rise again.
Peter took what Jesus said very offensive and he rebuked Jesus for it.
Jesus then turned to Peter and told him to get behind Him and called him satan.
Jesus said that to Peter, because Peter was not concerned about God’s interest he was just
interested in man’s interest.
Peter like many was committed to the glory but not the cross…
Peter like many was committed to the exaltation but not the humiliation…
What Jesus said about dying was very hard for them to grasp it was a major
disappointment for them.
It was hard for them to even imagine life without Jesus.
To handle the disappointment and disproval, the disbelief Jesus does something here that
He had never done before.
Matter fact what Jesus did to encourage them and help prepare them, He only did one time.
The Bible says we walk by faith and not by sight.
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I believe in God even though I cannot see God visibly.
I believe Jesus Christ came as a man and walked on this earth and died and was raised from the
dead by faith.
We walk by faith, we live by faith everything a believer believes is by faith that it is true.
At times is can be very hard to walk by faith and very hard to believe something without
seeing it.
We live in a world where seeing is believing yet we walk and live by faith.
God knows that at times that can be tough to do especially in a world filled with violence and
despair.
A world where bad things happen to good people and where bad people seem to get away with
whatever they do.
Walking by faith means we see things as they are but we believe anyway.
Even though the Bible tells us to walk by faith and not by sight there are times where we
need some help in doing that.
It would be easier to walk by faith if we had just a little glimpse of the outcome of some
situations.
We all know God sees the future but there are days I sure would like for Him to give me a peep
at the future.
Or at least a peep at the outcome.
In these verses tonight Jesus is going to do what He has never done…
Because the disciples are so down Jesus is going to move their faith to sight.
Jesus is going to let them see what they have been believing is true.
Verse 2…Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James and John and led them on a high mountain
apart by themselves…
Notice out of the 12 disciples Jesus only chose three.
Peter, James and John were the inner circle or Jesus’ ultimate friends.
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When Jesus went into the Garden of Gethsemane He took these three as well.
We know why Jesus took these three men but why did Jesus only take three?
Dt. says truth is confirmed in the mouth of two or three witnesses.
Three is the proper number is eyewitnesses to confirm the truth.
Jesus takes them up on a high mountain by themselves they think they are going up on the
mountain to pray.
But verse 2 continues and says and He was transfigured before them.
The word transfigured is metamorphoo from which we get the word metamorphosis.
Meta meaning change…
Morphe meaning body or form…
What this means is Jesus’ form was changed.
With Jesus of course nothing on the inside was changed because He is God…
It was His outside that was changed and He experienced a radical transformation.
Again it wasn’t Jesus’ nature that changed only His appearance.
As believers Roman’s 12:2 says we are to be transformed by the renewing of our mind.
But Jesus’ mind was perfect so He needed no change in the mind.
Matthew and Luke add that Jesus’ face shown like the sun.
Peter, James and John knew the O.T. they knew that when God showed up He showed up
as light.
God always showed up radiantly.
When God appeared in the O.T. He always revealed Himself in visible form and it was always
some kind of light or a cloud with a light in it.
God appeared in a burning bush whenever God showed up there was great light.
At the priestly service in Lev. God appeared in light…
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In Ex. God appeared to Israel as light…
In Ex. 40 when the tabernacle was completed God appeared in Shekinah glory as light.
When the children of Israel rebelled against God He appeared as light.
Throughout the O.T. God appeared as light.
Every time God showed up He did so to strengthen that God is present.
But never had God revealed Himself so magnificently and so precise as He did on the mountain
with the disciples.
There was evidence that Jesus was God by what He did but there was no visible evidence by just
looking at Him.
No one not even the disciples could see anything on the outside that would say Jesus was
God.
The disciples concluded that Jesus was God by what He did and what He said not by how He
looked.
Verse 3 also tells us…His clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no
launderer on earth can whiten them.
Keep in mind this is not a dream or a vision the disciples are having it is a real experience.
The glory of His divine nature came through His humanity and He was like the sun at high noon.
His garments became radiant which means to glitter like flashing facets flashing back like the
sun on a diamond.
Jesus always possessed that glory but kept it veiled until that moment.
But that’s not all…
Verse 4…And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.
Moses and Elijah appeared and were talking to Jesus.
It would be easy to assume they were talking about the Kingdom and the glory and the
overthrow of the Roman’s and talking about…
The establishment of the Messiah’s throne over the whole earth.
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But they are not talking about any of that.
They were talking about Jesus’ departure and what would be accomplished by His death.
They were talking about why Jesus called them out of heaven to make an earth appearance.
The transfiguration was not about Jesus being transformed it was about the disciples being
transformed.
The transfiguration was to communicate to the disciples that Jesus had to die and it is not an
interruption in the plan of God it is the plan.
Jesus called out Moses and Elijah specifically.
Why?
They were very two very special men.
Moses was the great leader in Israel’s history he was the rescuer of the nation from captivity.
Moses was one of the greatest men who ever lived and if you are going to have a witness to the
fact Jesus’ death is in the plan of God you need the best you can get.
Moses was the great lawgiver and Elijah was the greatest prophet.
Jesus called out two men that would bring the disciples the best assurance and the greatest
confidence that Jesus’ death was the plan of God.
Moses and Elijah were the heroes of the O.T. and the disciples knew it and knew they could be
trusted.
They witness the fact that Jesus is going to die but He is glory is coming.
The transfiguration was not about Jesus it was for the disciples to encourage them.
Verse 5…Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, Rabbi it is good for us to be here; let us make
three tabernacles one for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah.
Notice the words then Peter answered…did you read anywhere that anyone asked him a
question?
No actually Peter interrupts because he has to talk.
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He should have remembered last time what talking did for him but like many of us he doesn’t
learn very easily from his mistakes.
So he says…Rabbi it is good for us to be here.
Notice he calls Jesus Rabbi he did that because he wanted to look as good as could in front of the
Lord, the greatest leader and the greatest prophet that ever lived.
So he says I have an idea James, John and myself are going to build three tabernacles one each
for You guys.
Where did that come from?
Two sources…
First…verse 6…because he did not know what to say because they were greatly afraid.
He said it out of fear…he didn’t know what else to say.
Just a suggestion here and that is if you don’t know what to say…don’t say anything.
Second reason he says that is because he is still against Jesus suffering and dying.
He is not letting go of it.
So he interrupts and gives his solution to the situation.
Let’s end all this talk by establishing the kingdom right here.
Leave the rest of the people in the world out us five will just reside right where we are.
Peter, James and John has wanted the kingdom from the start and now his excitement is at an all
time high.
He know Malachi says Elijah will come at the end and the timing is perfect because it was the
time for the Feast of the tabernacles when God led exodus from Egypt.
So Peter thinks the gang all here so let’s stay right where we are and forget about all this
suffering and death stuff.
When Peter says what he says what was going on in his mind came out of his mouth.
Verse 7…And a cloud came and overshadowed them…
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Overshadowed them means the cloud engulfed Jesus, Moses and Elijah.
Overshadowed symbolizes God’s presence.
Verse 7…And a voice came out of the cloud saying…
This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!
What we now have is the third witness.
This time it is not Jesus rebuking Peter it is God doing it.
When God said hear Him it means God told Peter to shut his mouth.
Shut your mouth Peter and listen to what Jesus has to say about His death.
The Kingdom will come in time but right now it is not about glory it is about death.
The main point of the transfiguration was to demonstrate that the glory is later and the cross
is now and that death is not interrupting it was in the plan of God.
Mark 9:8 says…suddenly when they had looked around they saw no one anymore but only
Jesus with themselves.
Matthew 17:6 says they fell down to ground and were terrified.
As we can see the disciples had a hard time with Jesus suffering and a very hard time with the
cross.
They eventually got the message but it took God, Jesus, Moses and Elijah to get the point across.
In our lives suffering comes before the glory.
But the end results of suffering is glory.
At the time of suffering and death the disciples recalled this experience and they said…
We beheld His glory we were eyewitnesses of His majesty.
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