Dearly Loved ones in Christ,
Greetings in the name of our precious Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Let us thank and praise God for His providence and guidance throughout the last month.
In Luke.9:28,29, “Jesus took Peter, John and James and went up onto a mountain to pray. As He was praying, the appearance of His face changed.” The word “transfiguration” means a transformation or glorification in appearance”. It is the festival of the transfiguration of Christ celebrated on the 6th of August every year. The transfiguration was a vision, a brief glimpse of the true glory of the King (St Matthew.16:27,28). This was a special revelation of Jesus’ divinity to three of the disciples of Christ. It revealed Christ’s divine nature. The transfiguration of the Lord Jesus Christ is recorded in 3 gospels Mt.17:1-3, Mark.9:2-8 and St Luke.9:28-36. Jesus Christ is God’s Son. He came down to earth to save sinners. In the Old Testament, we find God used many approaches to send His messages to people. He spoke to Isaiah in a vision (Isa.6:1-8), Jacob in a dream (Gen.28:10-12) and to Abraham and to Moses personally (Gen.18, Exo.31:18). Finally, God Himself revealed by speaking through His son Jesus Christ. He is the fulfillment and culmination of God’s revelation through centuries. He lived with them. He said, “He who had seen me had seen the Father”. All that He did revealed the Father. Let us meditate three things that happened at the transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ.
1) St Luke.9:28, As Jesus was praying, His appearance was changed. In the transfiguration incident, Jesus took three of His disciples – Peter, James and John and went to a high mountain to pray. And as He prayed, the transfiguration of the Lord took place. We do not know why Jesus singled out Peter, James and John for this special revelation of His glory and purity. They were the inner circle of the group of 12 and were the first to hear Jesus’ call (Mark.1:16-20). They headed the gospel list of disciples (Mark.3:16) and were the ones present at certain healings when others were excluded (Luke.8:51).Jesus Christ must have taken His disciples either to Mount Hermon or Mount Tabor. A mountaintop was often associated with closeness to God and readiness to receive God’s word. In the Old Testament, we find God had appeared to Moses (Ex.24:12-18) and Elijah (I Kings.19:8-18) on the mountain. The transfiguration was God’s affirmation of everything Jesus had done and was about to do. When He was transfigured, a great change happened to Jesus. His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow, beyond what the fullers could do toward whitening it (Mk.9:3).Before Jesus prayed, He was answered, and while He was yet speaking He was heard. God’s dear ones are also suddenly transported to a kind of Heaven upon earth. Theirs prayers fetch down such light, strength, holy gladness as make their face shine, putting a celestial radiance upon it (II Corintians.3:18, Ex.34:29-35). The transfiguration revealed Christ’s divine nature. Jesus Christ was not a reincarnation of Elijah and Moses. He was not merely one of the prophets. He is God’s only son and surpasses all of them in authority and power. In Exodus 34:29, we see Moses’ face was radiant after he spent time with God. The people could see God’s presence in him. Dear friends how often do you alone with God? Although your face may not light up a room, time spent in prayer, reading the Bible and meditating should have such an effect on your life that the people will know that you have been with God.
2. While Jesus was transfigured, Moses and Elijah appeared talking with Jesus (Luke.9:31,32). The transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ revealed Christ’ divine nature. God’s vision exalted Jesus above Moses and Elijah as the long awaited Messiah with full authority. Moses represented the “Law” and Elijah the Prophet”. Moses and Elijah were the two greatest men of O.T. Moses wrote the first five books of O.T. and he predicted the coming of a great Prophet (Dt.18:15-19). EliJah represented the prophets who foretold the coming of Messiah (Mal.4:5,6). Moses and Elijah’s presence confirmed Jesus’
Messianic mission – to fulfill God’s law and the words of God’s prophets. It was a constant and prevalent tradition among the Jews that Moses and Elijah should appear at the time of Messiah. It appears they conversed with our Lord on His death, which He was about to accomplish, because in it all the rites, ceremonies, and sacrifices of the law and predictions of the prophets were fulfilled. Seeing Moses and Elijah talking with Jesus, Peter said, “Master, It is good for us to here let us put up three shelters one for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah”, (Luke.9:33). Peter had the right idea about Christ but his timing was wrong. He wanted to capture the moment but he was supposed to learn and move on. Peter, James and John experienced a wonderful moment on the mountain and they did not want to leave. Sometime we have such an inspiring experience that we want to stay where we are away from the reality and problems of our daily life. Instead of becoming spiritual giants, we should soon become dwarfed by our self-centeredness. We need times of retreats and renewals at the same time; our faith must make sense of the mountain as well as on it.
Dear brothers, are you having time like this? Do you have fellowship with our Lord Jesus Christ? Are you hearing His soft tender voice? Do you spend time in reading His words and waiting on the Lord Jesus Christ? Read Isaiah.50:4. At Jesus Christ transfiguration, a voice came from cloud identifying Jesus as His son: (Luke.9:35). At the transfiguration of Lord Jesus, (Lk 9:35) the disciples saw the transfiguration of Jesus; saw Moses and Elijah talking with Him. Now they heard voice from the cloud, “This is my beloved Son, Hear Him”. Jesus was not merely one of the prophets. As God’s Son, He surpasses Moses and Elijah. Jesus has God’s power and authority. God clearly identified Jesus as His Son before saying that Peter and others were to listen to Jesus and not to their own ideas and desires. The ability to follow comes from confidence about who He is. If we believe Jesus is God’s Son, then we will want to do what He says. We who are children of God should be transformed by renewal of mind as in Romans.12:1,2. God wants us to offer ourselves as living sacrifices – daily laying our own desires to follow Him. He wants us to be transformed people with renewed minds living to honour and obey Him. We should be a transformed community that others may see Christ in us. We should be like salt of the earth affecting the world around us bringing out the best flavour in food (Mt.5:13). Also we should be light of the world living for Christ showing others what Christ is like by our transformed life through Christ (Mt.5:14).
May God bless you,
Johnyachen
