A Glimpse of Future Glory

Notes for the Ekklesia Meeting
Sundays @ 10:00 a.m. Info: (651) 283-0568 www.dtminc.org Today’s Date: September 11, 2005

A Glimpse of Future Glory
by Dan Trygg

"‘For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels; and will then recompense every man according to his deeds. 28 Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who shall not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.’ 17:1 And six days later Jesus took with Him Peter and James and John his brother, and brought them up to a high mountain by themselves. 2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light." Matthew 16:27-17:2

"…in these last days has spoken to us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also He made the world. 3 And He is the radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds all things by the word of His power." Hebrews 1:2,3a

"The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all things that offend, and those who practice lawlessness, 42 and will cast them into the furnace of fire. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. He who has ears to hear, let him hear!" Matthew 13:41-43

"Beloved, now we are children of God, and it has not appeared as yet what we will be. We know that when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is." I John 3:2

One of the realities which is often overlooked in Bible study is that the chapter and verse divisions were not part of the original writings. They were added much later. The chapter divisions were first introduced in 1228 by Stephen Langton. The first entire Bible to be divided into chapters and verses was the Geneva Bible of 1560. This is important because these later additions are somewhat arbitrary and artificial. They are not part of the original inspired writings, and sometimes they are unfortunately placed, causing misleading breaks and divisions in the flow of thought. When we are trying to understand the text, we must be aware of this so that we can discern the author’s intended thoughts.

The verses on the transfiguration in Matthew are a good example of this. It was unfortunate that Mr. Langton chose to divide the chapter after 16:28. The natural break would have been one verse earlier, since 17:1 begins with a Greek word for "and" which indicates a continuation in the thought, not a break. For whatever reason, he did not repeat this unfortunate choice in the parallel passages (Mk. 9:1f.; Lk. 9:26f.). By putting the chapter break after 16:28, however, the reader may miss the important connection which Matthew intended between the content of 16:27,28 and what happened on the mountain when Jesus was transfigured.

Before developing that connection, however, let us take a closer look at the events. Where were they? The account immediately preceding this placed them near Caesarea Philippi, which was virtually at the foot of Mount Hermon. Both Matthew and Mark say that Jesus took them up "to a high mountain". Hermon qualifies for this, since it is the highest mountain in the region. Its snow capped peak rises to a height of 9,232 ft. above sea level, and is visible even from the Dead Sea, almost 100 miles to the south. Note that the text does not say that they scaled to the top of the mountain. They were there to find privacy, not to climb mountains. Only Peter, James and John had been invited to accompany Jesus on this brief excursion. Luke adds that Jesus went to the mountain to pray. He was on a prayer retreat with His closest friends.

What was it that the disciples saw on the mountain? As He was praying, He was transformed (Gk. – metamorpheo) before them. The appearance of His face became different. It shown as the sun. His garments also became white as light, glistening (Mk. 9:3), even flashing like lightning (Lk. 9:29). Apparently the disciples had fallen asleep, and they awoke to see two other men, also in glorious splendor, standing with Jesus (Lk. 9:31,32). They were Moses and Elijah, and they were talking together with Jesus, speaking with Him of His departure (Gk. in Lk. 9:31 – exodus), which He was about to fulfill in Jerusalem (A reference to His coming death, resurrection and ascension, but the disciples would not have understood that.). Upon realizing what was happening, and that they were departing (Lk. 9:33), Peter blurted out something about wanting to build three shelters so they could remain there. Instead, while he was still speaking, a luminous cloud formed and overshadowed them. When a voice came from this cloud, they fell on their faces to the ground in fear. The voice had said, "This is My beloved Son, My Chosen One (Lk. 9:35), with Whom I am well-pleased; listen to Him!" As they were trembling upon the ground, Jesus came near and touched them, saying, "Get up, and don’t be afraid." When they lifted up their heads, they saw only Jesus. The others, and the display of glory, were gone.

Afterwards, as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus told them to not share with anyone what things they had seen (Mk. 9:9; Lk. 9:36). In Matthew’s account, the Lord commanded them, "Tell the vision to no one until after the Son of Man has risen from the dead" (Matt. 17:9). This word, "vision", is used 11 other times in the NT (Acts 7:31; 9:10,12; 10:3,17,19; 11:5; 12:9; 16:9,10; 18:9), all of them referring to a revelation from God to an individual. The word simply refers to something seen, a sight or spectacle that appears to the person while awake. It appears to be a real event played out before one’s eyes like a movie, not a dream which is only in one’s mind. If the recipient of the vision shuts his eyes or turns his head away, he will miss what is happening. It may be a real event, or it may simply be a revelation that appears as a real event (cf. Acts 12:9). Whatever it was that the disciples experienced, all three of them saw and heard the same things, and Jesus did also.

Can you imagine the impact of such an experience? It was a visitation of the power and glory of God, with the added affirmation of Moses the Lawgiver and Elijah the Prophet talking with Jesus’ about His mission, an "exodus" which He was soon to accomplish at Jerusalem. Finally, the luminescent cloud, clearly a revelation of God’s presence, identifies Jesus as His chosen and beloved Son, which they would have understood as a reference to Him being the Messianic King (Psa. 2), and admonishes them to listen to Him. If they were impressed with Jesus before, now they are really convinced that He is truly the Man of the hour, and their duty was clearly to follow Him and do whatever He said. God is at work here, and He has clearly revealed that He is about to do something significant with Jesus.

The entire experience was so overwhelming and surreal that they did not speak of it immediately. There may have been a lot of exclamations, like "Wow! That was awesome!", but apparently they did not immediately dialogue with Jesus about what happened. At least, there is no record of that. It was not until they were on the way down the mountain that Jesus brought the subject up by forbidding them to speak of it to others "until the Son of Man has risen from the dead" (vs. 9). At this point, they begin to process with Him some of what they had been thinking. They were trying to put all this together with their understanding of OT prophecy. They ask the Lord why the scribes say that "it is necessary for Elijah to come first"? That is a very telling question. It reveals something of where their thoughts were. They had heard the scribes teach from Malachi 4 that before the day of the Lord comes, when the arrogant and evildoers will be displaced, judged and destroyed, and God’s people will rejoice like calves set free from their stalls, and will tread down the wicked in defeat, Elijah the prophet would come. He would restore the hearts of the fathers to their children, and the hearts of the children to their fathers. Jesus’ response is interesting. First, He says, Elijah comes and he will restore all things. This sounds like a future coming, but the Lord goes on to say, "But I say to you, Elijah already came, and they did to him whatever they wished. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands." The disciples rightly understood that this was a reference to John the Baptist, who, although not literally Elijah, came in the spirit and power of Elijah to call Israel to repentance and to prepare for the coming of the Lord (Lk. 1:17). They did not grasp, however, Jesus’ statement about His own suffering. They were still thinking of Him as the earthly king of Israel, having no conception of what was really going to happen, or how the prophecies would be fulfilled. They still were not listening. They were too busy with their own thoughts to hear what the Lord was telling them. They were probably thinking of an earthly exodus, not a deliverance from sin and the powers of darkness.

I want to take a moment to go in a different direction. This whole transfiguration experience is connected with some other biblical passages which are important to see. People often interpret this experience only as a time when the power and glory of Jesus’ divinity was temporarily revealed. That understanding does not adequately deal with all aspects of the experience, nor does it address the other teachings that would seem to be related to this event. For example, if Jesus was glowing because He was divine, then why were Moses and Elijah glowing? Allow me to tie some scripture passages together. The Bible says that all have sinned and lack ("fall short of" is a poor translation of the Greek) the glory of God (Rom. 3:23). It is like we were created in God’s image and were to be filled with His radiating glory. When we sinned, that radiance was darkened. We were still somewhat in the image of God, but our inner light had gone out. We are only a shell of what we were created to be. Several times we are told that God’s plan of salvation is so that we would obtain the glory or radiance of God (II Thess. 2:14; II Tim. 2:10). In fact, we have been destined to share in the glory of God (II Pet. 1:3; I Pet. 5:1). When we receive Jesus, we are born from above and the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of grace and glory (I Pet. 4:14), comes to live within us. Paul says it is like God commanding the light to shine in the darkness. As a result, we are like earthen vessels that have light in them (II Cor. 4:6,7). The inner light is turned on again. Christ in us is our hope of glory (Col. 1:27). As we are renewed in our understanding, and yield to Him, we are transformed (metamorpheo) to ever increasing levels of glory and Christlikeness (II Cor. 3:5-12; Rom. 12:2). When He returns in the full glory of the Father, then we will be like Him, and we will shine forth like the sun in our Father’s Kingdom (I Jn. 3:2; Matt. 13:41-43). The undampened intensity of the indwelling Spirit is what will cause us to shine, just as He caused Jesus, Moses and Elijah to shine. Transfiguration is not an anomaly; it is our destiny.