The Transfiguration

Matthew 17:1-8 “ Six days later, Jesus took Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And in their presence he was transfigured; his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became dazzling white. Suddenly, there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, conversing with him. Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will make three tents here—one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud cast a shadow over them. Then a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.” When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were greatly frightened. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Stand up, and do not be frightened.” And when they raised their eyes, they saw no one, but only Jesus.”

The transfiguration is something that I find fascinating. I wonder what Jesus looked like during this transfiguration. It says His face shown like the sun and his clothes were dazzling white. I can imagine it would have been hard to see Him. I wonder if the disciples had to squint. I know I have to when I look into the sun. It must have been amazing to see Jesus like this. They had been following Him for a while now and it I am sure they suspected that He was the son of God. However, I wonder what it was like for them to see him like this in that moment.

Then, not only did they get to see Jesus, but they also got to see Moses and Elijah. For Jewish people this would be a big deal. I mean it would be a big deal for most Christians now a days too. However, Moses led their people out of Egypt. He is responsible for their escaping slavery. Elijah was a great prophet. Both of these two were no longer living and so for the disciples to see them standing with Jesus was astonishing I am sure. And, if Jesus shining bright as the sun and Moses and Elijah appearing wasn’t enough, a cloud appeared and a voice from Heaven said, “ This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him.” Can you imagine this?

Can you imagine being Jesus and hearing God say this. I mean Jesus was fully human as well as being fully God. I think this means He felt all the human emotions that we feel. I wonder if he felt proud of himself that His dad said this? I wonder if this warmed His heart? I bet it did. I can’t imagine anyone’s father saying that and it not making the person feel proud. Can you imagine what the disciples must have felt hearing this? I mentioned yesterday about how I talk with God, but I also mentioned that I never hear an audible reply. Can you imagine hearing God’s voice. I can’t.

I wonder what made Jesus choose these three people to go up on the mountain with him. I have been told that the transfiguration was to help sustain the disciples after Jesus was gone. It was explained as if seeing this would fortify their faith and help them hold on after the crucifixion. If this is the case, wouldn’t it have been good for them all to see it? God is a mystery. I think we could study the bible our whole lives and barely touch on all that it has to offer. This is why I am enjoying exploring it a few verses at a time. We get to look at the phrases in more detail and see what jumps out to us.

Another amazing thing about the Bible is that you can read the same passage over and over again and what you get out of that passage can change each time. It all depends where you are in life or what things you are going through. It also depends on our knowledge of the history and of the circumstances that the people in the Bible were going through. I have found that I get so much more out of the Bible when I do a Bible study. When I read a certain part of the Bible and concentrate on learning all about that part. There are people that have studied the Bible a lot. There are people who went to school and studied scripture, theology, history, and all sorts of other things that would help us gain a deeper understanding of the Bible and of Jesus and His life. Imagine you could sit down with this person and have them explain the Bible to you. That is what you get from a bible study.

Have you ever gone through a museum without a guide? You don’t really need one in most musuems, right? You can just read all the little plaques by each display? However, have you ever gone through a museum with a guide? Which experience did you like better? We are all different and what works for one of us, does not work for another. I for one, would much rather have a guide take me through a musuem. It is not because I don’t want to have to read all day, although I do appreciate that part, it is because they usually can go into more depth. They can give you more detail and sometimes even give you a back story, or an interesting fact that is not on the card. This is the same with a Bible study.

The people that write Bible studies have studied the Bible more than I have. Most of the time they have made it their life’s work to understand the Bible. They have also studied the history of the people back in the time when the Bible was written. They understand the meanings of the words in the Bible in a way that most of us don’t. We read the Bible with all of our past experiences and knowledge in mind. It is as if we are reading the Bible through a filter of all this information. However, the Bible wasn’t written in our time. It was written a very long time ago in times that we can’t even imagine. Father Mike is always reminding us of this on his Bible in a Year podcast. He reminds us that yes, many things we are hearing are awful and they don’t make sense to us. This is because we did not live in those times.

However, when you go through a Bible study, they help to explain what life was like back in the day. They explain in detail what the people of that time period were going through, what they might have been thinking, and if the words they are using mean something different back then compared to the meaning of those words today. Once I understand the Bible better then I get so much more out of it. The more familiar you are with something the more sense it usually makes. The Bible is a great way to learn more about the Lord and His expectations for us. Getting to know it more intimately helps us get to know our Heavenly Father more intimately. We also get to know Jesus better when we read about Him and His time here on earth.

Familiarizing yourself with scripture is also a great way to strengthen your faith and also to defend it when need be. I know we don’t like to talk about spiritual warfare in everyday conversation. I also know that not everyone listening to this episode believes that spiritual warfare is a really big probably today. It is. The enemy is always trying to steal our souls away from God. The thing is, we have free will. He can’t do it without our permission. You may be thinking that you would never give him permission, but he is a master manipulator. He can trick even the best of us. However, if we know and understand scripture well, we have a fighting chance against the enemy. You see, he likes to use scripture against us. He likes to take a scripture verse, twist the meaning and then use it agains us. However, if you already understand the true meaning of the scripture you won’t fall for his lies. The enemy even went after Jesus in the desert right after He was baptized. Jesus knew scripture and instead of fighting with him, He just quoted scripture right back to him. We can do the same! We can fight against any spiritual attacks. We can do this! We are already saved through Jesus’ suffering on the cross and the only way the enemy can win our souls is if we let him. Studying scripture is a great way to guard against this. We are equipping ourselves with the armor of God, His word.

Dear Heavenly Father, I ask that you bless everyone listening to this episode today. Lord we thank you for giving us the Bible. We thank you for your words that help teach us, strengthen us and guide us on our journey to grow closer to you. Lord we thank you for the protection that your scripture provides us. Lord, we ask that you place a desire in our hearts to read and learn Your Word. We ask that when we do read it, you shine a light on the things you want us to know most. We also pray for an understanding so that we can understand what we are reading. You are amazing and we are so grateful for all you do for us. Lord, we love you and we ask all of this in accordance with your will and in Jesus’ holy name, Amen.