Lesson 5 - Chapter 9:1-13 (The Transfiguration)

The subject of the Transfiguration of our Lord Jesus Christ is an extremely solemn and intrinsically complex one. Let us look up that mountain and see if we can grasp a glimpse of the glory of our Lord, which Peter, James and John were so very fortunate to witness almost two thousand years ago.

The Transfiguration of Jesus is one of the most difficult events in the Gospels to fully grasp. Most of us struggle to understand its dynamics and, in doing so, lose sight of the many blessings contained in it. We forget that our Lord will reveal, in His good time, all that has not yet been revealed to us in Scripture - whether it is the mystery of the Transfiguration, the mystery of what happened on both sides of the Cross during His death, the Resurrection, the Ascension, the doctrine of the Trinity, or finally His Second Coming.

What were the statements of Jesus Christ that His disciples failed to understand?

Our Lord’s disciples were already reeling from His revelation that He would be put to death and rise again, Mark 8:31. On the heels of that stunning statement, Jesus called His followers to a life of total commitment and absolute separation. His words must have come as a shock to their system. They had left everything they knew to follow Jesus, expecting Him to destroy Rome, deliver Israel, and establish His Kingdom on earth. Now Jesus tells them that following Him is a costly business - He has just shown them the hard side of being His follower.

What did Jesus mean when He said some of them would see the kingdom of God come with power before they died?

As soon as Jesus tells His men that He is going to die, and as soon as He calls them to a life of total surrender, He makes a very strange statement. He tells them that some who are standing there will not die before they see the kingdom of God come with power. He softens the blow of His earlier words with the promise that His followers will enjoy His glory in the future.

Let us praise the Lord that there is a better world waiting for the people of God - a world with no sin, sickness, separation, violence, abuse, terrorism or war; a world where Jesus is glorified and His people see the Redeemer in all His glory. This precious passage gives us a small glimpse of the glory we will see on that day. Besides that truth, there are several other special blessings contained in these words.

Some people have difficulty with verse 1, in which Jesus said, “Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.” Some say He was pointing to the Transfiguration; others, probably more accurately, say He was referring to His Resurrection, when He defeated death and Satan; and yet others think He was pointing to His Second Coming. What we can be sure of is that He spoke these words to encourage His already discouraged and confused disciples.

So today, I want to look at the blessings we can find in the account of our Lord’s Transfiguration: the place, the people, and the presentation of His glory - and then what it all means for us. Let the Lord speak to your heart as we catch a glimpse of His glory together in these verses.

The Place (Verse 2)

This passage opens with the mention of a mountain. We are not told which mountain it was. Many modern commentators favour Mount Hermon, given its nearness to Caesarea Philippi, where this part of Mark’s narrative is set; church tradition since at least the fourth century has instead pointed to Mount Tabor, farther south in Galilee. Either way, Mark does not name the mountain for us, and perhaps he wants us to focus on what happened there rather than exactly where.

If it was Mount Hermon, the mountain rises some 9,200 feet above sea level and lies roughly twelve miles north of Caesarea Philippi, near the place Jesus had been ministering. Those who have seen it tell us that even in the hottest months, its summit stays wrapped in bands of snow.

Remember, mountains occupy a very special place in the Word of God.

1. It was on a mountain called Moriah that God manifested His grace to Abraham when he willingly offered up his son Isaac, Genesis 22.

2. It was on Mount Sinai that God handed down His Law to Moses, Exodus 19.

3. It was on Mount Carmel that God demonstrated His power to Israel through Elijah, 1 Kings 18.

4. It was on Mount Horeb that God ministered peace to the troubled heart of Elijah, 1 Kings 19.

5. It was on Mount Calvary that Jesus died for our sins on the Cross, John 19.

6. It was from the Mount of Olives that Jesus ascended back into His heavenly glory, Acts 1:9-11. It will be that same mountain that greets His feet when He returns in glory, Zechariah 14:4.

The Implications of the Transfiguration

When we try to understand the implications of the Transfiguration, we realise that it was not only Peter, James and John who were blessed by His grace that day on the mountain. Mountains occupy a special place in our own lives as well. Let us praise the Lord that He sets aside a few mountaintop experiences along the way for you and me. We walk through our own valleys - the valley of the shadow of evil, our hardships, our sufferings, our sicknesses and our problems - but let us praise God for the mountaintops of life that come along when the going gets difficult. We should be glad that there are a few places along the way where we are allowed to see His glory and His power. Let us praise Him for those times when He leads us onto a “high mountain”. The men who were with Jesus on that mountain never got over what they experienced there; the mountains of life will help us make it through this life as well.

Now and then we are blessed with a mountaintop experience. Friends, do we recognise those experiences as the special blessings our Lord has showered on us? Do we stop to thank Him for leading us up the mountain for such experiences? During our quiet times, do we recall all such experiences and know how blessed we were? If we have not done so, now is the time to do it.

The People

There is also a mention here of people. We are told that Jesus selected Peter, James and John for this special trip to the top of Mount Hermon. Jesus had twelve disciples, so why just these three? The answer to that question is not an easy one, but it is clear from the Gospels that these three men held a place of particular closeness to Jesus among the Twelve - and two of them, Peter and John, would go on to become leading figures in the early church, as Acts and their own New Testament letters show. Perhaps they were allowed to witness the events of this day in preparation for the places of leadership they would later occupy.

This is not the first time Jesus singled these men out for a special time of ministry, nor would it be the last. He first singled out these three men when He raised the daughter of Jairus from the dead, Mark 5:37. He singled them out here to witness His Transfiguration. He would also take these men “a little deeper” with Him in the Garden of Gethsemane the night before He went to the Cross, Mark 14:33. These men were privileged to see things the other disciples never witnessed.

But we all know that God has “no respect of persons”, Romans 2:11. This simply means that He does not prefer one person over another because of any special merits that person may have. He does not love you more than He loves me, and He does not love me more than He loves you. “God does not have favourites, but He does have intimates.” Some are simply closer to Him than others. And those who are closer to Him will see more of His glory and more of His power than those who stay farther away.

Therefore, we are as close to God as we desire to be, James 4:8. We can experience as much of His glory and His power as we desire to. Do you ever wonder why some people seem so full of love for the Lord? Do you ever wonder why they always seem ready to worship and praise Him? Do you ever wonder what their secret is?

Their secret is no secret at all. They have simply made up their minds to live close to Him, and He has promised to live close to them in return. They walk with Jesus in every aspect of their lives, keeping diligently to all His directions, and the result is the sweet presence of Jesus in their lives.

Can I encourage you to get as close to Jesus as John was at the Last Supper, John 13:23-26? John laid his head on the breast of the Lord. From that position, he could hear the Lord’s heartbeat, feel His breath, and hear the Lord speak in a “still small voice”. That is where I want to be. How about you?

Why Did Jesus Choose Three of Them?

We may never fully know why Jesus chose Peter, James and John rather than the other nine - but their story raises an even bigger question: why would Jesus choose you and me? To think that He would take a sinner like me, save me by His grace, and then allow me to experience His glory is more than I can understand. But the fact that I cannot understand it will not stop me from enjoying it. I want to get as close to Him as I can. Do you want that too? Then today is the time to begin.

The Transfiguration

Then Moses and Elijah appeared on the mountain with Jesus. Mark says they were “talking with Jesus”, verse 4. Luke tells us that they were discussing His “decease”, Luke 9:31.

Why Moses and Elijah, and not some of the other great figures from the Old Testament? Moses and Elijah are the great representatives of the Law and the Prophets. Between them, these two men represent the whole Word of God that had pointed forward to the coming of the Word made flesh. Moses was the great lawgiver, and Elijah was the first and greatest of the prophets. Both had come to encourage the Lamb of God as He drew closer to Calvary. What that conversation sounded like, I do not wish to speculate.

These two men also represent the two ways in which God’s people meet death. Moses died and was buried, Deuteronomy 34:5-6. Elijah was taken up alive into Heaven, 2 Kings 2:11. Our Lord would experience both: death and burial, then resurrection and ascension into glory.

The Presentation

The climb up the lower slopes of Mount Hermon would have taken much of the day. Luke tells us that Jesus began to pray once they reached the top, Luke 9:28-29. That time of prayer went on for some while, since the disciples fell asleep, Luke 9:32. By now the day had probably given way to night, and the peaceful mountain lay under a sky filled with stars.

Suddenly, Jesus changed. His face changed, Luke 9:29. His garments changed, verse 3. He was transfigured.

In other words, Jesus changed form on the mountain. The divine glory that had been concealed within Him was revealed there. This was not, in fact, the first time Jesus had been transfigured. When He was born in Bethlehem, He had concealed the glory of His deity behind the veil of a human body; on the mountain, the glory that had always been within Him burst forth to the outside. I am less interested in exactly how this transfiguration took place than in the glory of our Lord that it reveals. Even though the nature of the Transfiguration is not fully explained, Mark reports it as a genuine event, not merely a symbol. Sometimes even the person who experiences such a moment struggles to explain exactly what happened - Luke, for example, records that in Peter’s miraculous escape from prison, he “wist not that it was true which was done by the angel; but thought he saw a vision”, Acts 12:9.

We know that Mark was writing history, not myth or metaphor, even though this incident, like so many in the Gospels, is easier to describe than to explain. And that is where I want to leave this aspect of the Transfiguration for now.

The dark mountain was instantly bathed in a light brighter than the sun. Anyone looking up at Mount Hermon that night would have seen it lit with the glory of God. It was a remarkable sight: Peter, James and John were given a glimpse of the glory of our Lord that God’s children will one day see in Heaven. One day, we too will see Jesus in all His glory, 1 John 3:2.

The Three Disciples

The three disciples have been asleep. They awake to find the mountain bathed in supernatural light. Jesus, their leader and friend, is no longer the same man He was. When they walked up the mountain, Jesus appeared to be an ordinary Jewish teacher; when they wake, He is shining brighter than the sun. When they see this, they are terrified, verse 6.

Peter does not know what to say, verse 6, so he blurts out something anyway. He suggests that they build three shelters: one for Moses, one for Elijah, and one for Jesus, verse 5. Some people have something worth saying, and some people simply feel they have to say something - the first sort is worth listening to; the second sort will get you into trouble!

Peter may have been hoping that they could simply stay on the mountain, prolonging this extraordinary moment. Perhaps he even imagined Mount Hermon becoming the headquarters of the kingdom he expected Jesus to establish at any moment.

Whether Peter, James and John experienced a vision, or whether Jesus was, however briefly, transfigured before their very eyes, the dazzling light itself is secondary to what the voice from the cloud affirms: this Jesus, whom the disciples followed, was not merely a gifted teacher or a bold reformer - He was God’s own beloved and appointed Son. Having been given this fleeting glimpse of His future glory, the conclusion is inevitable: “hear him”, Mark 9:7.

After the Transfiguration

As Jesus and His men leave the mountain, He tells them not to tell anyone what they have seen until He has risen from the dead, verse 9. They do not understand what He means, verse 10, because they will not grasp the truth of the Resurrection until Jesus has actually died and risen again. Jesus tells them to keep this to themselves for two reasons: they do not yet have all the information they need, and they do not yet understand the information they do have. Had they gone around telling everyone what they had seen, they would have confused many people and hindered the rest of Christ’s earthly ministry.

As they come down the mountain, the three men are confused. They want to know why the scribes say that Elijah must come before the Messiah, verse 11, when they have already seen the Messiah - and have just watched Elijah appear on the mountain besides. Jesus tells them that Elijah will indeed come, verse 12, and then turns the question back on them.

FOR DISCUSSION AND REFLECTION

1. In Mark 8, Jesus performed a miracle He had already performed once before - feeding a huge crowd by multiplying a few loaves and fish - yet the disciples had already forgotten what He had done on another hillside just weeks earlier. Before we judge them too quickly, is it not true that we do the same? God graciously meets a need, and before long we have half-forgotten it, so the next hard moment can catch us off guard as though it were the first trial we had ever faced. Think of a specific time God met a need of yours in the past. Who could you tell about it this week, and how might telling that story help you trust Him with what you are facing right now?

2. If a friend who had never been to church asked you, “Who is Jesus, really?”, how would you answer in your own words, in under a minute? What from this lesson - the voice from the cloud saying, “This is my beloved Son: hear him” - would you want them to know?

3. Peter wanted to build shelters and stay on the mountain, prolonging that extraordinary moment (Mark 9:5). Have you ever had a “mountaintop” experience of God’s closeness - at camp, in worship, in prayer - that you wished would never end? What helped you, or could help you, carry that sense of His presence back down into ordinary, everyday life, the way Peter, James and John had to come back down the mountain and keep following Jesus toward the cross?

4. Before the Transfiguration, Jesus had just told His disciples that following Him would cost them everything, and that He Himself would suffer and die. It would have been easy for the disciples to want to skip straight to the glory on the mountain and avoid the hard road ahead. Where in your own life are you tempted to want the “mountaintop” without the “valley” - the reward of following Jesus without the cost? What is one concrete way you can keep following Him this week, even in an ordinary, unglamorous moment?

Editorial note (retained on closure): this lesson has been retitled from “Lesson 5 - Chapters 9 and 10” to “Lesson 5 - Chapter 9:1-13 (The Transfiguration)” to reflect its true scope: the lesson only ever narrated Mark 9:1-13 and did not go on to cover the remainder of Chapter 9 or the whole of Chapter 10. This gap was surfaced to the author and, on his instruction to close the Study as drafted, has been left as is rather than expanded with new material.

--End of Lesson 5--