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Mark 9:2-6
In Mark 9:2-6 Jesus takes with Him, Peter, James, and John up a high mountain where he became “transfigured” as they stood and watched. The Bible describes the transfiguration as Jesus’ clothes becoming “shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them” (Mark 9:3, NKJV). Along with Jesus, appeared Moses and Elijah – two prophets from the Old Testament. Moses represents the Law given by God that gave man an opportunity to prove himself worthy to God for righteousness in a prelude to the coming of the Messiah (Jesus) to the fulfillment of the Law which no man was capable of accomplishing on his own. Elijah was the lone prophet when everyone else had abandoned belief in God (1 Kings 18). He called on the power of the Almighty God of heaven to prove His existence when all else had failed. It is also prophesied in Malachi 4:5,
“Behold, I will send you Elijah the
prophet
Before the coming of the great and
dreadful day of the LORD.”
Malachi 4:5 was fulfilled when John the Baptist came to prepare for the coming of the Messiah, as he came in the spirit of Elijah (Luke 1:17).
The comment made by Peter in Mark 9:5 is noted as being little more than an acknowledgement by the three disciples with Jesus that witnessed this event as the Bible teaches us in Mark 9:6, “because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid.”
This is a promise of the glorified body of Jesus in heaven, and of what we should expect to see when He returns in His glory.
The Bible teaches us in 1 Corinthians 15 of our victory and hope in the risen Lord Jesus and of the difference between our physical bodies and of our renewed heavenly bodies in reflection of the renewed risen body of Jesus. The Apostle Paul teaches us in 1 Corinthians 15:42-44, “So also is the resurrection of the dead. The body is sown in corruption, it is raised in incorruption. It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in weakness, it is raised in power. It is sown a natural body, it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body.” He adds in 1 Corinthians 15:46-49, “However, the spiritual is not first, but the natural, and afterward the spiritual. The first man was of the earth, made of dust; the second Man is the Lord from heaven. As was the man of dust, so also are those who are made of dust; and as is the heavenly Man, so also are those who are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man.” But in the transfiguration is an additional message that overrides the first, as we will see in the next lesson.
Dear LORD,
Jesus gave us a glimpse of what our heavenly bodies will be like as He appeared with Moses and Elijah to Peter, James, and John in His transfigured state. Please help us to see that the Bible does not teach us that the transfigured bodies of Moses and Elijah were as gloriously adorned as that of Jesus, but that they were with Him in His glorious state. Please help us to see that it is the glory of the Lord Jesus that we will gain as we open our hearts to Him and accept the salvation that only He provides. In Jesus name I pray, amen.