Introductory

“Tn the old days on Sinai Words from the cloud give witness — Were tempests and dark cloud, ‘This, My Beloved Son’; And God was there, in lightning, The three look round in terror Thunder, and trumpet loud: And Jesus is alone.

Upon a fairer mountain,

Where pure snows lay congealed;
Stood Jesus in His glory,

The very Christ revealed.

“Soon passed that scene of grandeur;
But stedfast, changeless, sure,
Our blest transfiguration
Ts promised to endure;

“His raiment white and glistering, The manifested glory White as the glistering snow; Of our great Lord to see His form a blaze of splendour, Shall change us to His likeness; The like no sun can show; As He is, we shall be. His wondrous eyes resplendent

“O vision all surpassing
Filling the heavenly height!
The Lamb, once slain, transfigured
In the throne-rainbow’s light!

In ecstasy of prayer;
His radiant face transfigured
To heaven’s own beauty there.

“Deep shadows are the edging There for the endless ages Of that short transient peace, All glorified is He, For spirit-forms come warning And His eternal glory

Of the fore-doomed decease. Shall ours for ever be.”

GrorcE RAwson. “The Transfiguration.”

AND after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James, and John his

brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart: and He was transfigured before them; and His face did shine as the sun, and His garments became white as the light. And behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elijah talking with Him. And Peter answered, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if Thou wilt, I will make here three tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. While he was yet speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold, a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one, save Jesus only.

And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen from the dead. — Matt. 17. 1-9.

And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James, and John, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves: and He was transfigured before them; and His garments became glistering, exceeding white, so as no fuller on earth can whiten them. And there appeared unto them Elijah with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answereth and saith to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. For he knew not what to answer; for they became sore afraid. And there came a cloud overshadowing them: and there came a voice out of the cloud, This is My beloved Son: hear ye Him. And suddenly looking round about, they saw no one any more, save Jesus only with themselves.

And as they were coming down from the mountain, He charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, save when the Son of Man should have risen again from the dead., And they kept the saying, questioning among themselves what the rising again from the dead should mean. — Mark 9. 2-I0.

And it came to pass about eight days after these sayings, that He took with Him Peter and John and James, and went up into the mountain to pray. And as He was praying, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment became white and dazzling. And behold, there talked with Him two men, who were Moses and Elijah; who appeared in glory, and spake of His decease which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and they that were with Him were heavy with sleep: but when they were fully awake, they saw His glory, and the two men that stood with Him. And it came to pass, as they were parting from Him, Peter said unto Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah: not knowing what he said. And while he said these things, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them: and they feared as they entered into the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is My Son, My chosen: hear ye Him. And when the voice came, Jesus was found alone. And they held their peace, and told no man in those days any of the things which they had seen. — Luke 9. 28-36.

1 ee approaching the subject of the transfiguration it will be well first to take a general survey of the field, by considering — first, its occasion; secondly, its witnesses; and thirdly, its purpose.

I. Each evangelist commences his account of the transfiguration with a suggestive word — “after.” Matthew and Mark say “After six days.”! Luke writes, “Eight days after.”2 There is here no real discrepancy. The first two count the intervening days only, and the third reckons also the two days, on which the two events in mind occurred. This uniformity in the use of the word “after” arrests attention, and the question is naturally asked, after what? A study of the context will show that the reference is to the conversation between Peter and Jesus, the first part of which contained Peter’s confession, and our Lord’s commendation; and the second part Peter’s shrinking from the Cross, and the Master’s stern denunciation.

Beyond these events, “after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart: and He was transfigured before them.”3 The first meaning, therefore, of the transfiguration to the men who witnessed it, was a confirmation of the truths uttered on that memorable occasion. In the splendours of the mount the two facts of the Messiahship and Saviourhood of the Christ were confirmed. They saw the Messiah in the glory of His Person, they looked upon Him standing in the glory of God, and conversing with the spirits of just men made perfect. They beheld no longer the Man of sorrows, upon Whose face was the mark of a perpetual pain, but a Man shining in all the splendours of His own perfect character, as it transformed and transfigured the veil of His flesh.

The mount was also a confirmation of the necessity of the Cross of which the Lord had spoken, and from which His disciples had

1Matt. 17. 1; Mark 9.2. 2Luke 9. 28. 2Matt. 17. 1; 2 shrunk. They listened to the conversation between Jesus, and Moses, and Elijah, and it was of His coming exodus. The Cross, concerning which Peter had rebuked his Lord, was the subject of conversation in the strange and marvellous light of the holy mount.

Thus the mount endorsed the confession of Peter, and the teaching of Christ.

There is, therefore, a distinct connection between the transfiguration and the events immediately preceding. “After six days,” but what happened during those days: There is no detailed record of them. Follow the clue‘carefully, and it will be seen that during the period there had been a sense of estrangement between the disciples and the Master. They were amazed, afraid to ask Him questions, and do not seem to have walked in very close companionship with Him. He was going towards Jerusalem, moving with determination towards the very Cross of which they were afraid. They, being afraid, followed at a distance reluctantly, full of perplexed wonderings. Do not blame them. They had arrived at the moment when one of their number had confessed the Messiahship of Jesus, and He had not denied, but had rather crowned the confession with His blessing.

Then, suddenly, by His forctelling of the Cross, all that Messiahship meant to these men seemed to have been rendered impossible of achievement. The Cross of shame loomed ahead, and they were bewildered, they fell back, fear possessing their hearts, and mystery enshrouding their pathway. Those six days must have been among the saddest in the life of the Master; six days of silence, six days in which His loneliness was the supreme fact in His progress. He had chosen these men, but there was not one of their number who fully followed Him now. They loved Him, and He loved them, and having loved them, He loved them to the end; but the way to the end lay through the desolate days in which He realised, and they proved, their present incapacity for fellowship with Him in suffering. He was moving in sublime loneliness to His Cross.

When the six days had passed, He called three of them, and leading them to the mount, was transfigured before them. In that sacred vision He spoke to their fear, and flung new light upon the overshadowing mystery, as He revealed the inward fact of the glory and strength of His Person and character, permitting, for a moment, that glory to shine through the veil of His flesh, that He might allay their fear, and clear away, as much as might be, the cloud of mystery that enshrouded them.

In this light Peter spoke again: “Lord, it is good for us to be here: if Thou wilt, I will make here three tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”! It was a sad blunder, and yet a revelation. “Be it far from Thee, Lord,”2 he had said in sight of the Cross. “It is good to be here,” he said in the light of the glory. The Cross? No. The glory? Yes. It was as though he had said: Suffering and passion, and blood and death, I cannot look upon. This glory is what I crave for Thee, my Lord and Master. It was still the speech of love, blind and blundering, but yet love. It seemed as though the Master said in effect: I spoke to you of the Cross, and you were afraid. I spoke also of resurrection, and you did not hear, but come with Me into a mountain apart, and in its light and glory My converse shall be still of the Cross.

He repeated the teaching of six days ago, but under different circumstances. For the strengthening of feeble faith, and the quieting of the hearts of terror-stricken men, He was transfigured

before them.

Il. There can be no doubt that these men, Peter, James, and John, were the most remarkable in the apostolate. Peter loved Him, John He loved, and James was the first to seal his testimony with his blood. Even their blunders proved their strength. They were the men of enterprise, men who wanted thrones, and places of power, complacent and satisfied while the Lord spoke of keys, desiring to sit on His right hand and on His left in His kingdom. Mistaken ideas, all of them, and yet proving capacity for holding the keys, and occupying the throne. What men from among that first group of apostles reign to-day as do these men? James, ever supreme among the apostles, as having been first of their number to receive the crown of marytrdom. John, in inspired writing, unveiled the wonders of His commandments and His love, His light and His life; and the whole Church, in its mystic relationship to Christ, is under the sway of the apostle of love. Peter held the keys, and in Pentecostal preaching opened the door of the kingdom

1Matt. 17. 4. 2Matt. 16. 22.

158 THER ‘CRISRS “OF (THB? CHRIST

to Jews and Gentiles, first at Jerusalem and then in the house of Cornelius. These were the men taken to the mount. There can be no doubt that these among the apostles were the greatest three. To them He had shown His supreme miracles, and they subsequently came nearest to the sacred enactments of Gethsemane’s garden. The transfiguration was after, and also before — “after six days,” but before Gethsemane, flashing its light backward and forward to strengthen their faith after the mystery of the six days, and to be a light of hope even amid the gloom of the garden.

Ill. “He was transfigured before them.”! The whole emphasis should be laid upon these two last words. It was wholly for their sakes that upon this occasion He was transfigured. There are no means of knowing, but perchance those silent mountain heights, and the starlit sky of night, had often witnessed such wondrous scenes. Luke declares that as He prayed He was transfigured; and he, moreover, tells that the ostensible purpose of this journey to the mount was that of prayer.2 Who knows but that during those years of public ministry, when withdrawn from the crowd, and even having left His chosen disciples behind Him, He spent the hours of the silence with God, the angels saw Him transfigured? Be that as it may, the emphasis here is surely upon the words “before them.” The outshining of this light, and all the radiant glory of the holy mount, was for their sakes.

This vision of their Master was a revelation to them of God’s thought of Him. In the events preceding, He had asked, and they had given, man’s opinion. Human voices had expressed different thoughts. These opinions are all suggestive and valuable, showing how the fulfilment in His Person and character of all that was great in the past, had impressed itself upon the minds of different men. Some said He was John the Baptist, the stern prophet who had dared to denounce the king. They had heard Him in some sterner moment of His preaching, had been reproved by Him for some wilful sin, and they found John the Baptist risen from the dead. Others said, This is Elijah, the man who came to bring the people back to the law. Others, who perchance, had seen such tears as He shed over Jerusalem, and heard such words as He spoke of her ruin,

1Matt. 17. 2. ®Luke 9. 28, 29, were reminded of the weeping prophet of old, who in his agony had cried, “Oh, that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!”1 and some said He was Jeremiah. Others again had said, “one of the prophets,” being unable to decide which. All had discovered the prophetic genius and power of speech, and yet all fell short of the supreme fact that He was Messiah. This was the opinion of a man, not resulting from his own observation, but created by distinct revelation, “Blessed art thou Simon Bar-Jonah: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father Who is in heaven.“2.

And even now Peter and his comrades did not understand the full significance of their own confession, and it is as though the Master had said, having heard the expressed human opinion at its best, “Come now to the mount, and learn God’s thought of the Christ.” That thought is expressed in a threefold way, first, in the glory streaming from His Person; second, in the visit of Moses and Elijah; and third, in the actual speech of Deity. The mount revealed the sublime fact that the Divine opinion included, and glorified all human conceptions. Moses and Elijah conversed with Him, and withdrew. When they had departed, and no one remained save Jesus only, then God said, “Hear ye Him.”3 He is sufficient, all that other prophets have spoken is fulfilled in Him, their messages have been but gleams of truth; He is the Truth.

Thus upon the mount, standing in the light and glory of the transfigured Christ, they learned the Divine thought of their Master, as they had given expression to the human thought six days before.

There are certain practical applications of this preliminary study, which will prove profitable. God’s “afters” are worth the waiting for. However dark the “now” is, there will be light enough in God’s “‘after” to explain the darkness. The very genius of Christianity consists in living in the dark “now,” with the hope of the “after” upon it. Wait ever for

“Light after darkness, gain after loss.’

Remember also, that beyond the mount lies the valley. It may Nernguk: 2Matt. 16. 17. 3Matt. 17. 5. 4F, R, Havergal.

be that the experience of the present moment finds expression in

the language of the poet:

“I stand upon the mount of God,
With sunlight in my soul;
I hear the storms in vales beneath,
I hear the thunders roll.

“But I am calm with Thee, my God,
Beneath these glorious skies;
And to the height on which I stand

No storms nor Clouds can rise.””?

Do not forget, however, that it is not intended that the follower of Christ should abide on the mount. Just beyond lies the valley, and away further still, out of sight at present, but surely to be reached, is the sombre shade of the olives of Gethsemane. For that, this is preparation; this is a Divine process of training, and it is full of grace. The valley and. Gethsemane lie beyond the holy mount. To them God never leads save by the way of the mount. The mount for ever stands after the six days, before the deepest darkness and the severest trial.

It is also true that revelation is according to capacity. There are those to whom God cannot reveal some of the methods of His government. Peter, James, and John were taken to the mount, but eight others saw no transfiguring glory. Do not ask for the vision of the mount. He takes there whomsoever He will. The light of transfiguration creates new responsibility. The men who saw its glory were taken also to the vision of Gethsemane’s sorrow. Let there be no asking for visions. When transfiguration, and garden, and Cross, and resurrection, and ascension hours are passed, the Master will not apportion His rewards according to the number of visions, but according to fidelity to the opportunities He creates. Is there no vision? Then let there be faithfulness without, and after all, this may be the more heroic life. The man to whom God grants a vision should find it easy thereafter to be heroic. To the larger company of apostles and disciples, no vision comes. They patiently follow “until the day break, and the shadows flee away.”2 Ask for no vision, O, my soul, lest its coming bring also testing

1G. B. Bubier. 2Cant. 2. 17.

which God had not intended for thee. Take what He gives, and follow in His steps.

Lastly, communion with God issues ever in transfigured life. It was when He was praying that He was transfigured. When the disciples pray as He prayed, they also will be transfigured as He was transfigured. This will not be until salvation is completed. While there lurk within possibilities of unbelief, fellowship is not perfected, and final transfiguration cannot be. And yet, the measure of fellowship is the measure of transfiguration, even here and now. How often, even amid the shadows of the little while, the faces of the saints are seen lit with the light of the inward glory. Those who, indeed, would shine amid the darkness of the world, must be transformed and transfigured by union with God. May the communion of the saints with the Son be such, that, in some measure, upon all of them may rest the light and glory of the holy mount.