January 27
“While (Peter) was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!'” Matthew 17:5.
The Lord Jesus went up a high mountain, where He was transfigured in the presence of three of His disciples. The three disciples were Peter, James, and John. These three were given special privileges on various occasions. For example, on the first Maundy Thursday evening, they were taken to pray farther into the Garden of Gethsemane than the other eight disciples. (The twelfth disciple, Judas, was away making a deal with the religious leaders to betray Jesus.) Why Jesus gave Peter, James, and John special privileges is unknown to us.
On the Mount of Transfiguration, as we call it (we do not know which mountain it was), Jesus was transfigured before them. “His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light,” Matthew 17:2. The three disciples were given a glimpse of Jesus’ divine glory. In his Second Epistle, the apostle Peter wrote about this experience as an historical fact, not a fable. He wrote, “We did not follow cunningly devised fables when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory when such a voice came to Him from the Excellent Glory: ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ And we heard this voice which came from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain,” 2 Peter 1:16-18.
The evangelists, Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and Peter in his Second Epistle, make special mention of God the Father speaking from heaven and identifying Jesus as the Son of God. This is very significant for us as Christians. We believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God, true God with the Father and the Holy Spirit from eternity, and also true Man, born of the Virgin Mary. He is God and Man in one Person as our Savior, who suffered and died on Calvary’s cross to pay the price for our redemption.
At the Transfiguration, it was also significant that Moses and Elijah appeared in bodily form to speak with Jesus about His suffering and death to redeem us. Remember that the prophet Elijah went to heaven bodily in a chariot of fire. He did not die. Moses, the Bible reports, was buried by God on Mt. Nebo, and only God knows where he was buried. From his bodily appearance with Elijah on the Mount of Transfiguration, we conclude that he was taken to heaven bodily also. On another occasion, Jesus said, “(God) is not the God of the dead, but the God of the living,” Mark 12:27. The appearance of Moses and Elijah also assures us of the resurrection of the body and a life with God after death!
Believe in Jesus as God’s Son and your Savior. Hear Him! Search God’s Word and hear Him! In His Word, He speaks to you about your sin and your Savior. And He assures you that, “The blood of Jesus Christ His Son cleanses us from all sin,” 1 John 1:7.
We pray: Gracious God, strengthen our faith in the resurrection of the body and the life everlasting! Amen.