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March 1927
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K i n g ’ s
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temptto dictate to.Jesus? Yet even after this, we find him again contradicting Jesus . (Jn. 13). How difficult to listen to Him! Moses and Elias vanished. “They saw no man save Jesus . only” (v. 8).'.; Peter never forgot. Almost a generation later he wrote of this experience (2 Pet. 1 :17, 18). No tabernacles were built, but it is Peter who grasps clearly the idea that Jesus began the erection of a great tem ple of “living stones” (1 Pet. 2:5). “He charged them to tell no man” (v. 9). We would have said—“Broadcast it.” We would think it waste of power to be transfigured in comparative secrecy. But Jesus knew best. It would have inter fered with the completion of His mission. After the resurrection they should tell it, and it would put an end to all false ex pectations concerning His kingdom. Every, wonder in His life was incomplete until the resurrection. --O--- P it h a n d P o in t Christ was transfigured to His own in the ratio of three to twelve. The closer we are to Christ the closer we are to each other. The transfiguration proves that the death of Jesus was not the result of cir cumstances that were too Strong, for Him. Christ was illumined internally; believ ers are but reflectors of His light. Miniature picture of the coming glor ious Kingdom—the King in the midst; Elijah representing those translated; Mo ses representing those who. entered through death; the disciples representing the Jews; the multitudes at the foot of the mountain—the Gentile nations. Jesus was the one man who came into the world to die—not to live. The valleys ring with the cries of the helpless. Beware of tarrying meetings that cause us to forget the perishing. — o — S u g g e st iv e Q u e s t io n s What is suggested by the cloud that overshadowed them on the mount? (v. 7; cf. Acts 1:9; 1 Thess.. 4:17). Of what would the Father’s voice from heaven—“This is my beloved Son”—re mind Peter? (8:29). Instead of three tabernacles, what did Jesus propose to build? (1 Pet. 2:5). What anticipatory transfiguration is possible for the believer in the present life? (Rom. 12:2—same word in Greek). What was Jesus doing at the time He was transfigured? (Lk. 9:29; cf. Ex. 34: 29-35). _• Was it merely a “vision” that Peter saw in the mount? (2 Pet. 1:16-18). Were the three disciples dreaming? (Lk. 9:32, R. V.). — o — G o ld en T e x t I l l u s t r a t io n “A voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son, hear Him” HE—Mark 9 :7. A Christian man, whose life companion had passed away, leaving him with a fam ily of three children, found himself short ly afterward worried to distraction by busjness perplexities. The prospects were that his business would be ruined as the result of unfortunate investments. Great ly depressed, he came home one evening to the meal prepared by his eldest daugh ter, and as he tried to eat, told his son of
A p r il 24, 1927 Peter at th e Transfiguration
—Mark 9:2-10
L e s s o n T e x t
J F the Transfiguration scene were more carefully studied, it would settle many difficulties. In the first place, it confirms the newly
course, Jesus would have been glorified right then and there with the “glory which Hè had with the Father before the world was” (John 17:5). . “His raiment became shining" (glister ing—a word used only here in the N. T.). It is a word used in classical Greek of the gleaming of polished metals. He appear ed “as white as snow" (v. 3). This is na ture’s own white, which is above the whiteness of art. With Him there appeared Elias and Moses (v. 4). Heaven couldn’t have given two more fit companions for .this occa sion. These were two accepted with God and most admired by the Jews. Both had been admitted to. conference with God at Mt. Horeb. Both, like Christ, fasted forty days. Both had suffered per ils, divided waters, acted as messengers to kings. A chariot of angels took away Elijah. Michael, the arch-angel, strove with the devil for thé body of Moses. What was their topic of conversation? “They spake of His decease" (Lk. '9:31). These champions of the old dispensation were not offended by the cross, which so lately had brought protests from the dis ciples. It was the Very thing Peter had just said should never be. As envoys from the glory, they audibly affirm that the purpose for which Jesus had come into the world was to shed His blood—not to reign in Jerusalem but to die (Heb. 2:14). If the disciples were under the impres sion Jesús had come for some other pur pose, this should have set them right. He must first be a suffering and dying Mes siah before He could ever sit upon the throne. Peter came to see his mistake later (1 Pet. 1:11; cf. Lk. 24:26, 27). These heavenly envoys put the cross right in the center of Christ’s program. For this He came. The hand of God em erges from the opened heavens and points tp Calvary. “Hear ye Him,” and when He speaks He says : “I came to give my life a ransom.” That is what His fore runner had said in the first place : “Be hold the Lambf] (not the “Lion of the tribe of Judah”—His future manifesta tion). Peter came forward with an original idea. “Let us make here- three . taber nacles” (v. 5). He mistook a mere tran sitory state of mind for a thought of God. It is easy to do. We find ourselves ,in an enjoyable situation. Our vain hearts sug gest : Let us make this permanent—let our tomorrow be like our today. It can not be. Be grateful for the mountain-top ex periences, but never mind about building tabernacles for them. God often has to put an end to our enjoyments in order to remind us of our duty to those down in the valley. Our business is to go and deal with the world as it is, not remain in the clouds. Let us GO in the power of a transformed life, down to the valley of service where the demoniac cries for help. The voice of God cuts Peter short. “This is my beloved Son. Let HIM talk. Would that remind Peter of his recent at-
revealed personality of the Saviour. Peter had just been faced with the question as to who Christ was, and had confessed Him as the Son of God. It was imme diately confirmed by
His glorious manifestations on the mount. In the second place, it -proves that the death which Jesus had thrice foretold for Himself .was not the result of weakness on His part. It was not a fate that He would have resisted had there been great resources at His command. All heaven was at His beck and call. Thirdly, it reveals the relation of Christ’s Kingdom to prior dispensations: God’s Kingdom, though revealed in sec tions and phases, is but one. We miss the solemnity and instructiveness of history by dissecting things, as some m our day are prone to do, making various small compartments of Scripture. Jesus had told His disciples that there were some present who should have the privilege of seeing , God’s Kingdom in power (v. 1). It is not given to all to know the deep things of God. All saints are near to Christ, but some lie on His bosom. Are you in the inner circle of fellowship? Can He trust you with the heavenly vision? The world’s profoundest truths have been put in the keeping of the few who have known Christ intimately. “After six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter and James and-John” (v. 2). We might think it strange that Peter, who had shortly before been rebuked (8:33) for making a Satanic suggestion, should have been numbered in the inner circle. In spite of his faults, he was evidently deeply spiritual. There were three earthly and three heavenly parties to the mountain scene. Peter, James and John, who were later to be with Jesus in Gethsemane, should have been fitly forearmed by what they beheld in the mount. But they slept a good part of the time. The probable location of the Transfig uration was Mount Hermon, the highest in Palestine (10,000 feet). Its peaks are snow-clad most of the year, and this may explain the reference to snow in v. 3. The word transfiguration is an emphat ic term. It means a complete and re markable change. It was not the effect of a spotlight—not an outward, but an in ward and substantial change. It was in terior illumination—the outshining of in herent Deity. Dr. R. A. Torrey points out that this was “the reverse of what took place in the incarnation” (Phil. 2:6, 7—when He laid aside the outward insignia of Deity in order to have approach to men). He who had taken upon Himself the form of a man was here being changed into the glorious appearance of the Son of God. If things had been allowed to take their
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