And it came to pass after these words, about eight days, that taking Peter and John and James he went up into a mountain to pray.
Jesus had just called His followers to take up the cross daily, and promised that some standing there would see the kingdom of God. About a week later He takes three of them up a mountain to pray, and glory follows.
The verse points back to "these sayings" — the words about the cross and about seeing the kingdom. What happens next answers that promise.
You may ask, what did Jesus mean by that? I think the answer is in this very verse. Notice that this is the fifth time Luke's Gospel shows Jesus praying... The Lord has not yet come in visible majesty and glory, as King of kings and Lord of lords. But He will come that way as the Son of Man. Here He gives His beloved disciples a miniature picture of the coming kingdom.
Matthew and Mark date the same event "after six days." The difference is a matter of counting.
Notice, in passing, how accurate the inspired writers are, and yet how independent they are of one another. Matthew and Mark speak of it as "six days after." They no doubt leave out the day our Lord had spoken and the day of the transfiguration itself. Luke includes both days and says, "about eight days after." All three speak of the three companions of our Lord who were eyewitnesses of His glory on the mountain.
The count is not the whole story. One writer sees meaning in the number Luke chose.
This looks to me like a small difficulty: "after six days" in Matthew and Mark, against "about eight days after" in Luke. The one way of counting leaves out the two end days; the other counts them in... The form "about eight days after" seems to belong with this Gospel rather than the others, and for a simple reason. Understood spiritually, this way of marking time reaches beyond the everyday world of time, or even beyond the kingdom as the Jews thought of it and measured it. The eighth day brings in not only resurrection, but the glory that belongs to it.
The vision came right after a hard word about suffering, and the Lord kept it for the three alone.
Notice what the Lord does right after warning His followers of their painful portion in this world. On the mount of transfiguration He unveils before His chief disciples the majesty of His Person and the glories that were to follow (Matt. 17:1-8, 2 Peter 1:16-18). They were to tell the vision to no one. It was for them, not for those who had rejected Him. He gave it to strengthen and settle their souls in a right sense of the worth of their Master. They were called to suffer for Him, and the memory of His excellent glory would hold them steady in the darkest hour.
Luke names them in his own order — Peter, John and James. The same three appear together at other key moments.
The order is peculiar to Luke at Luke 8:51, at Luke 9:28 and at Acts 1:13. Three times these three were singled out on special occasions: Luke 8:51, the Transfiguration and Gethsemane.
Luke keeps showing Jesus at prayer before great moments.
Before choosing apostles He spent the night in prayer to God (Luke 6:12-13). Again, in Luke 9:18, we find Him "alone praying." On the mount of Transfiguration it was "as He prayed" that the appearance of His face was altered. There He received honour and glory from God the Father. He did not go up to the mountain to be glorified; He went up "to pray," and was glorified. The object was prayer, the result was glory.
One writer sets this praying Man beside the man whose independence brought sorrow into the world.
Entering this scene of blessedness we are at once met with a holy mystery. All this eternal weight of glory is introduced with a praying Man... The sorrows of earth can be traced back to the disobedience and independence of one man. The glories of the world to come begin with the obedience and dependence of one Man. The coming glories of heaven centre round a praying Man on earth.
- Cross first. The verse follows the call to take up the cross daily. The mountain is the Lord's answer to that hard word.
- Eight days. Luke counts the first day and the last; Matthew and Mark leave them out. Some also hear in "eight" the note of resurrection and its glory.
- Three witnesses. Peter, John and James were singled out on other occasions too. What they saw would steady their souls in the darkest hour.
- Prayer first. He did not go up the mountain to be glorified. He went up to pray, and glory came.
- Dependence crowned. Human sorrow began with one man's independence. The coming glory begins with one Man's dependence — a praying Man at the centre.
And as he prayed the fashion of his countenance became different and his raiment white [and] effulgent.
As He was praying on the mountain, the look of Jesus changed in front of Peter, James and John. Commentators ask why the change came at that moment, where the light came from, and what the whole scene previews.
Luke alone ties the change to the moment of prayer. One writer asks why the glory came then, and not at some moment of power.
The Lord Jesus was not transfigured while He worked miracles or displayed the splendour of His Messiahship. He did wonderful works of power, but the change did not come at such a moment. Why is it said, "As He was praying, the appearance of His face was altered"? Was it not that this very glory reflected the perfection of the perfect Man before God? This, I believe, is the reason it is set out here. One attitude showed His complete perfection as Man more than any other did. In that attitude He was transfigured.
Matthew, Mark and Luke each describe the change in their own way. One writer compares the three.
Mark says less of the personal change and more about His clothing than either Matthew or Luke. … In Matthew there is no contrast with any launderer on earth. Instead, Matthew adds, in his own typical way, that "his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became white as light" — a most suitable image of supreme glory for the great King. In Luke the description fits wonderfully well! "And as He was praying, the appearance of His face was altered, and His clothing became dazzling white." Only Luke mentions the Lord bowing down before His Father at this very moment. And he points us to what was more personal than anything else in the great change that followed.
Moses also came down a mountain with a shining face. One writer shows where the two scenes differ: the source of the light.
The skin of Moses' face shone because he had been on the mountain with God. He came into the immediate presence of the glory of the Lord, and his face caught and kept some of the beams of that glory… The contrast with our Lord on the mount of transfiguration is impossible to miss… But with Him it was His own glory shining out. That glory flooded and lit up His whole body before the eyes of the disciples, so that He appeared to them as a Being of light. The glory that shone from the face of Moses was only external. It was a reflection of the glory of the Lord, the effect of his fellowship with God.
The verse mentions His face and His clothing. One writer says each points to a different glory.
Only Luke speaks of the Lord praying at the time He was transfigured (v.29). The appearance of His face was altered. Matthew speaks of this as His face shining like the sun. This reminds us of His personal intrinsic glory. His clothing, white and glistening, speaks of another glory — the glory He is given, which goes with the offices He holds. The world will see these glories only in the age to come… but a sample of them appears here for our present encouragement.
One writer reads the whole scene as a sample of Christ's kingdom, with every group of His people in place.
It was so, because He was the central and glorified Object of all. Moses and Elijah stood for the saints who enjoy a heavenly portion. Peter, James and John stood for the saints on earth. The heavenly saints kept company with Him, and understood His thoughts as they talked with Him. The earthly saints found blessing in His presence, though His glory dazzled them.
The change on the mountain lasted only a short time. One writer links it both to the change awaiting believers and to what Christ is now.
The appearance showed the change that will take place in saints at the coming of Christ… What the disciples saw on the holy mountain was, I judge, an early likeness of what He is now as glorified. That sight was only temporary. His present condition will last for ever.
- Prayer — Luke alone places the change at the moment of prayer, showing the perfection of the perfect Man before God.
- Person — Moses only caught and reflected light from outside; here Christ's own glory shone out from within Him.
- Pattern — His face speaks of the glory He has in Himself; His shining clothing speaks of the glory that goes with His offices.
- Preview — the scene samples the coming kingdom: Moses and Elijah for the heavenly saints, the three disciples for the earthly ones.
- Promise — the sight passed, but it showed what Christ is now as the glorified Man, and what saints will be when He comes.
And lo, two men talked with him, who were Moses and Elias,
Luke does not describe the visitors as angels or as figures of legend. He says two men, and one commentator notes that the wording fits this Gospel's outlook, along with the subject the three of them were discussing.
In Luke we find something else: "And behold, two men were talking with Him, Moses and Elijah." Luke calls them "men" here in a pointed way, because he wrote this Gospel with people in general in view. These men "appeared in glory and spoke of His departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem." What they talked about is of the deepest interest for us all.
Moses and Elijah were not random names from Israel's past. Each left the world in a way no one else did, and each stood for a different part of God's dealings with the nation.
They were two heads of Jewish history. Moses was the lawgiver, and Elijah the reformer. Moses had died, and the Lord Himself buried him. Elijah had never died; a chariot of fire had carried him up to heaven. He had tried to call a people who had turned away from God back to the law they had abandoned. But he failed, and fled to Horeb, the place where God had given the law.
Moses and Elijah could have spoken of the kingdom. They chose something else.
They speak not of His glory, nor of His kingdom, but of what they felt just then: He was going to lay down His life for those who were His. It is sweet to see how, in the company of the Lord, the heart learns what suits Him.
The two men appear for a moment and then withdraw. That withdrawal, writers point out, is itself part of the message of the scene.
So the law and the prophets, these two great witnesses, come in here for one reason. Everything was about to disappear, and Jesus alone would be left. At the end everything goes. Moses is gone, Elijah is gone, and Christ alone is left. He remains for ever. This brings to mind that Scripture, "The Law and the Prophets were until John."
There is a second reason for the pairing. One of the two died; the other never did.
They show us what that blessed moment will be like, when the saints are raised and changed. Moses must have been raised, for he had died. God buried him, and no man knew the place of his grave. Elijah went to heaven without dying. So you have an exact picture of the two groups: those who will die, and those who will not pass through death. "We shall not all sleep" means that we shall not all die. "But we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet." They appeared in glory; He glorified, and they glorified with Him.
The same picture has room for the three disciples watching on the mountain.
Jesus appeared in His majesty, and with Him were two men. We see the heavenly saints in Moses and Elijah, and the earthly saints in Peter, James and John. In mortal bodies they saw the glory of God.
Commentators differ here. Some speak confidently of Moses as risen; but when a reader asked how this squares with Christ being the first to rise from the dead, the answer given was deliberately restrained.
There is no difficulty about Elijah, who did not rise from the dead. And Scripture does not say that Moses rose either. We may not be able to explain more than this: both appeared in glory at the transfiguration. But Scripture cannot be broken: Christ is the firstfruits.
The disciples knew at once which man was which. One writer draws a promise from that.
It is perfectly plain that there will be recognition in eternity. They knew Moses, and they knew Elijah. They confused neither of them. They were sure about each. I do not think we shall fail to recognise each other when we pass into eternity. This scene shows plainly that people are known after resurrection. The relationships of this life belong to time, but each person keeps who he is into eternity.
- Two men. Luke calls the visitors men, because he wrote for people at large. Their talk with Jesus was about His death at Jerusalem.
- Two ministries. Moses the lawgiver and Elijah the reformer stand for the law and the prophets. Their day ran until John.
- Two departures. God buried one with His own hand. The other went to heaven without dying. Together they picture saints raised and saints changed.
- Two companies. Moses and Elijah picture the heavenly saints. Peter, James and John picture the earthly side of the coming kingdom.
- One left standing. Moses and Elijah come, shine, and go. Christ alone remains. And because they were still themselves in glory, we know we shall recognise one another there.
who, appearing in glory, spoke of his departure which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.
On a mountain, Jesus' face and clothing shone with light. Two men from Israel's distant past stood beside Him and talked with Him. Their one subject was His death. Only Luke records what they said. His wording turns that death from a tragedy that happened to Jesus into a work He carried out.
Moses received the law and died. Elijah called Israel back to God and went to heaven without dying. Both now stand with Jesus, and the light on them is not their own.
Luke tells us the subject of the conversation between the Lord, Moses, and Elijah. They spoke of His departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. He had announced for the first time His coming suffering and death (verse 22). That death was demanded by the Law (Moses) and predicted by the prophets (Elijah). It had to happen, and it had to come before His glory. That is the great theme. Moses and Elijah "appeared in glory" — not their own glory, but His glory.
Luke does not use an ordinary word for death here. One writer looks at the Greek word behind "departure".
"Departure" is the Greek word exodos. The word "exodus" appears again in 2 Peter 1:15. On this being the theme of the conversation, Dr. Torrey asked in one of his London addresses, "Could anything show more clearly how basic His death is?"
The verse says He would accomplish it. One writer presses on that word.
They talked of His exodus — of "His departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem." Notice the word accomplish. It means to fulfil — to bring to completion — to be so perfected that nothing is lacking. There is no flaw, no failure in it. He had come to do the work that God had given Him to do, and in John's record of the crucifixion we learn that it was done. His own words were, "It is finished."
That word sets Him apart from the two men beside Him.
Moses brought down the law from God. But at the end of his life he had to tell that people: "You have been rebellious against the LORD from the day that I knew you" (Deut. 9:24). Elijah appeared among the people at a critical time and sought to lead them back into the path of obedience. Both Moses and Elijah failed, for the flesh is an evil thing. But the One who was about to give His life for sinners could not fail.
The place named is the city of the throne. To a Jewish ear that pairing would jar.
They also see where He would accomplish His death: "at Jerusalem." How strange to a Jew. The Messiah is going to reign from that very place. There He will receive a throne and a crown. Yet there He was to accomplish His death, and receive a cross and a grave. On the Mount they speak of such wonders without astonishment. There all is clear. The kingdom's glory must rest on righteousness. To meet the righteous claims of God He must accomplish His departure. The sufferings must come before the glory.
Just before this and just after it, Jesus spoke of His death to His disciples. They did not take it in. The two who did understand came from heaven.
In Luke 9, death with its unspeakable sorrows filled the thoughts of the Lord. As said before, no creature on earth could share in His grief... So He went to seek them in heaven. There He meets two glorified saints, and these, in contrast with those on earth, will understand Him. They know why they are in the bliss and glory of heaven. They know it was not through their own works, faithful and mighty as their testimony had been. They know that God has forgiven their sins because of Christ's propitiation — a propitiation still future at that moment.
That conversation on the mountain was not a one-off.
Moses and Elijah represent the saints who have died and been raised, and those who are living and changed. Moses died and is seen here as risen, and Elijah is the pattern of those who will be changed... This is the great topic of heavenly conversation. There can be no fact above so precious as the death of Jesus. It will be the grand theme throughout eternity. It is the foundation of all the ways of God in redemption, the highest moral glory of God, as it is the fullest proof of His love.
- Departure. Luke's word for His death is exodos, the Greek word behind "exodus".
- Accomplished. He did not just die. He completed a work, so perfected that nothing was lacking — "It is finished."
- Unlike them. Moses and Elijah both failed. The One about to give His life for sinners could not fail.
- At Jerusalem. The city of His throne became the place of His cross. The kingdom's glory had to rest on righteousness — suffering first, then glory.
- Forever. The two glorified men chose the subject of eternity. The death of Jesus is the foundation of redemption and the fullest proof of God's love.
But Peter and those with him were oppressed with sleep but having fully awoke up they saw his glory, and the two men who stood with him.
One night the Lord led three disciples up a mountain to pray, and they fell asleep while He prayed. They woke to find His glory already shining, and the verse sets their dullness beside that sight.
Luke's note about sleep tells us when this happened, and what kind of glory the three woke to see.
Their heaviness here is not an isolated lapse. The same three would later sleep through His agony. Put the two scenes together and you learn something about human nature at its best.
They slept in the garden while Christ went through His agony, and they were heavy with sleep while Christ's glory shone out. So man is completely useless for fellowship, whether with suffering or with glory. And this is not man without life from God. These were the chosen disciples, the future pillars of the work, the most worthy and excellent people on earth.
Moses and Elijah were speaking with Jesus about His coming death. Peter slept through that talk, and his words on waking show it.
He had been asleep while they spoke of Christ's coming death. He had been giving in to nature while his Master's sufferings were the subject of their talk. When he woke, he would have been glad to pitch his tent in the middle of that scene of peace and glory, under the open heavens. But he did not know what he was saying.
Their sleep also works as evidence. The scene did not depend on anyone watching it.
This also proves it was no mere vision, even a waking one. The thing was there before they saw it: Moses and Elijah were talking with Jesus. So it was real, quite apart from anyone watching. And how simply it is described — as "two men," Moses and Elijah. One of them was a man caught up in glory centuries before. The other had died even longer before, and his body was buried. Yet he is still a "man" — not extinct and not asleep, but active in thought and in enjoyment.
What they saw was not only Christ shining. Every group that will share His kingdom had someone standing on that mountain.
All the elements of the coming kingdom were there in sample form. The King Himself shone out as the central Object. Moses and Elijah came from the unseen, heavenly world. They stand for the heavenly saints who will appear with the King when He appears: Moses for the saints raised from the dead, and Elijah for those taken up to heaven without dying. Then Peter, James and John stood for the saints who will be on earth, blessed in the light of His glory.
The verse does not end with sleep. It ends with sight, and that turn is a comfort to anyone who feels dull towards heavenly things.
We may taste very little of the blessedness of such a scene. Like the disciples, we have the heaviness of earth clinging to us, and the weaknesses of the body hold us back. So we see very little into the heart of these heavenly mysteries. Yet for our comfort we read that "when they became fully awake they saw His glory." It will be no different for us, for the apostle says, "Awake, O sleeper … and Christ will shine on you."
- Sleeping. The glory was already shining while the three lay heavy with sleep — the display did not wait for an audience.
- Slipping. They slept through the talk about His coming death, and Peter's confused words on waking show the cost.
- Same men. These same men later slept in the garden while He suffered. The flesh is no more equal to Christ's glory than to His sorrow.
- Seeing. Waking eyes prove the scene was real, not a vision — real men, not extinct and not asleep, but alive in thought and enjoyment.
- Sample. They woke to the coming kingdom in miniature: the King at the centre, heavenly saints beside Him, earthly saints in His light. The verse ends not with sleep but with sight.
And it came to pass as they departed from him, Peter said to 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 Elias not knowing what he said.
Peter speaks just as the vision is fading, and Luke records that he did not know what he was saying. His words raise two questions: what was wrong with wanting to keep the glory, and why three shelters could not stand side by side.
Peter spoke as Moses and Elijah were leaving. His plan for shelters was an effort to keep them there.
Even when they are awake, they are dazed and confused. As the two men are leaving, Peter makes an effort to keep them by proposing to build shelters for them, and for the Lord too. But then the cloud comes and overshadows them. Moses and Elijah disappear into the cloud. Out of it the Father's voice proclaims His Son once more, as it did at the baptism in the Jordan. Let them hear Him. And Jesus is found alone.
The title Peter uses means someone in charge. Luke gives Jesus that title again and again.
epistates, 'superintendent, overseer.' Luke 5:5; Luke 8:24, 45; Luke 9:33, 49; Luke 17:13.
The problem was not that Peter was eager. It was the number three: the same shelter for the lawgiver and the prophet as for his Lord. (Older translations say "tabernacles" where the ESV says "tents.")
Indeed, he did not know. It was sheer forgetfulness of the personal dignity of Jesus. "Let us make three tabernacles," one for his Master and the other two for His servants, Moses and Elijah. Would he then put his Master, the Lord of all, on the same level as the head of the law and the chief of the prophets? Peter thought this would be great honour for Him! He was completely astray. The root of all wrong is a lowered view of Jesus. The power for all that is good is faith in His glory.
Peter asked for three shelters. The Father's answer named one Son, and left one Person on the mountain.
As Peter spoke, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and the glorified men vanished at once. "And there came a voice out of the cloud saying, This is my beloved Son: Hear Him." It is not said, "Hear them," but "Hear Him." "And when the voice was passed, Jesus was found alone." Christ, in His wonderful grace, reveals Moses and Elijah as His companions and associates in the glory. But the moment Peter, in his foolishness, voices the thought that would put them on an equality with Christ, they must both vanish from the scene.
Booths belong to the Feast of Tabernacles, a feast of the coming kingdom. Peter wanted that day on the spot.
It is not strange that Peter, in the middle of such a scene, said, "It is good that we are here." He wanted to put up three shelters on this holy place. But the time of the Kingdom had not yet come. In the day of the Kingdom we shall see that they will keep the Feast of Tabernacles and dwell in booths (Zech. 14:16), but that time was still far off then, and the King must first go to the cross. And in that day, as in this day, the Lord Jesus must always have the pre-eminence.
Peter's plan set a second voice next to Christ's. One writer sees the same mistake wherever law is placed beside grace.
On the mount Peter did not know what he said (Luke 9:33). It was ignorance, trying to make a present thing out of a future scene... In his ignorance he brought in another authority alongside Christ. It was like many Christians who mix law and grace — grace being what saves us, and the law our rule of life. Peter's earthly thoughts were an offence to Christ, and He rebuked him severely. But on the mount God in grace meets his ignorance — what condescension! — and sets Christ before him as the only One he should listen to.
Peter spoke out of confusion, not conviction.
This only shows how dangerous it is for a believer to speak unless he has the settled sense that he has the Lord's mind in what he says.
- Dazed — Peter woke into the glory still confused, and wanted to keep it instead of following the King to the cross.
- Levelled — his plan gave the Lord one shelter among three, and a low view of Jesus is the root of all wrong.
- Vanished — the moment Peter made them Christ's equals, Moses and Elijah disappeared, and the Father said "Hear Him," not "hear them."
- Early — booths belong to a feast that pictures the coming reign; that day is real, but the King must go to the cross first.
- Alone — the scene ends with Jesus by Himself, the answer to every rival authority set beside Him.
But as he was saying these things, there came a cloud and overshadowed them, and they feared as they entered into the cloud
Peter has just suggested three shelters on the mountain. Before he can finish, a cloud comes down and covers the scene. Two questions sit at the heart of the verse: what was this cloud, and who went into it?
The cloud comes down while Peter is still speaking. What Peter had just got wrong was the place of his Master.
"Let us make three tabernacles," one for his Master and the other two for His servants, Moses and Elijah. Would he then put his Master, the Lord of all, on the same level with the head of the law and the chief of the prophets? Peter thought this would be a great honour for Him! He was completely mistaken. The root of all wrong is a low view of Jesus. The power for all that is good is faith in His glory.
This was no ordinary weather. Israel had known this cloud for centuries, and no one had ever gone inside it.
That cloud was without doubt the Shekinah, the sign of God's presence. Their entering into it was entirely new. Nothing like it had ever happened before. The cloud had travelled with Israel. It rested on the tabernacle and was their constant companion. But they had never entered into it. In earlier days, the cloud that went before them moved and stood between them and the chariots of the Egyptians. It protected them. But they had never yet entered into it.
Who is "they" in "as they entered the cloud"? Writers answer this differently. Some say Moses and Elijah went in, with the three disciples watching from outside:
There is little doubt that the fear of the disciples relates to Moses and Elijah entering the cloud. The grammar makes it plain, and we judge that nothing in the sense goes against this reading. Only Luke records it, for here he unfolds what corresponds to the Father's house.
Another writer takes the opposite view. He finds here a picture of the place the Church is given:
I am quite inclined to think that "they" in "as they entered into the cloud" refers to the disciples. It is the emphatic use of it. The cloud was the excellent glory, and they were afraid when they entered into it. It points to the place of the Church… How wonderful that they should go in! God might be there, yes, and Jesus; but that they should be there was unexpected. It went beyond all their thoughts… Much depends on the force of the word "overshadowed." Exodus 40:34, I think, shows that the cloud came down and surrounded them.
One writer reads it a third way: the Lord went into the cloud with Moses and Elijah. He traces the disciples' dread to something they did not yet know about their Master.
Here we learn the secret of the disciples' fears in the presence of this excellent glory. They feared as the Lord, Moses, and Elijah entered into the cloud. Nothing will strengthen us to stand assured in the presence of the glory but the knowledge of the humiliation of Christ; and this Peter and those with him did not yet know. His humiliation is the only ground of fellowship with even the excellent glory, and it is a sure and most blessed ground. It assures us of this: everything in us that this glory would otherwise judge and consume, God has already judged and put away in Him who bore all our shame. And the disciples received that assurance on this very occasion. For Jesus came to them, amazed and confused as they were, and with a voice and touch of the Son of Man restored them.
The cloud that once kept people out now becomes a home. One writer explains why the disciples inside it had nothing to fear.
A few days earlier Peter had earned the Lord's displeasure. Now grace brings him and his companions where man had never entered before. A cloud overshadowed the disciples, and they entered into it with Jesus. For a Jew this was a terrible thing. How could they do anything but fear to go into the cloud that was the sign of Jehovah's presence?… But the disciples could take heart. The cloud was no longer for them the dwelling of Israel's Jehovah, but the Father's house. Christ was there with them in the cloud, and through Him they came to know the name of the One who lived there.
- Cause — Peter put his Master on the same level as the servants. The cloud came down while he was still speaking. A low view of Jesus is the root of all wrong.
- Cloud — the same sign of God's presence that travelled with Israel, rested on the tabernacle, and stood between them and Egypt's chariots. What is new here is that people go inside it.
- Question — commentators differ on who entered. Some say Moses and Elijah went in, with the disciples watching. Others say the disciples went in too.
- Fear — only knowing Christ's humiliation steadies us in the presence of glory. He came to the frightened men Himself and restored them by voice and touch.
- Home — only Luke records the entering. Writers see the Father's house here: the cloud that once kept people out becomes the place where Christ makes the Father known.
and there was a voice out of the cloud saying, *This* is my beloved Son hear him.
Peter has just suggested putting up three shelters on the mountain — one for Jesus, one for Moses, one for Elijah. Then the Father speaks from the cloud. His words settle who the Son is and what the disciples must now do.
Peter's words put Moses and Elijah alongside the Lord as equals. The answer from the cloud is not an argument. It removes the two men from the scene.
The voice does not say, "Hear them," but "Hear Him." "And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone." Christ, in His wonderful grace, may reveal Moses and Elijah as His companions in the glory. But the moment Peter, in his foolishness, says the thing that would put them on the same level as Christ, they must both vanish from the scene.
Moses stands for the law, Elijah for the prophets. Their disappearance marks the close of the system they represented.
Moses and Elijah were taken away, and Jesus is left alone. Law was gone, prophecy gone, and He was going to be crucified... Peter would have had all three set up together and treated alike: "let us make three tents." But at that moment Moses and Elijah disappear. Then the voice says, "This is my beloved Son, hear him." Now it is the righteousness of God, without law, in Jesus. Law did not send Christ. What law could have made God do it? Nothing but divine love could have started such a thought.
For anyone still hoping that law-keeping or self-reform will help:
Moses is gone, for the law could not save you. Elijah's day is gone by, for reformation could not meet your case. We are in the day of the Son of God, the day of the revelation of the Saviour, and the Father's voice says, "Hear him."
Matthew records the Father adding that He is well pleased in His Son. Luke does not, and the omission is deliberate.
In the Gospel of Luke, the testimony that Christ is God's Son comes with the call to hear Him rather than Moses or Elijah. "This is my beloved Son," He says, "hear him," leaving out the expression of the Father's delight in Him. He was certainly always the object of the Father's delight. But there is not always the same reason to state it.
Older translations of Luke read "my beloved Son." Newer ones, including the ESV, read "my Son, my Chosen One." The two are closer than they look.
In Luke 9:35 the reading accepted by scholars is "chosen." In Semitic languages that word means much the same as agapetos, beloved. In the Greek of that time it was a synonym of monogenes — only-begotten [the only Son].
The Father could have called for worship. He asked for something else.
He does not say, This is the Son: adore Him, worship Him. That would be perfectly right, but He does not say that here. He is worthy of all this, beyond all human thought or power of speech. Yet none of it would say what the words "This is My beloved Son" set out so tenderly. How God delights to reveal the depths of His heart about Christ. "My beloved Son" gives us to see the Father's heart about that Son.
The disciples were inside the cloud when the voice spoke.
Peter and the others had entered into the cloud. So we get this wonderful fact: saints have the privilege of standing in the glory that the voice comes from. There, in that glory, they share the Father's delight in His beloved Son. We are not only called to the fellowship of God's Son, Jesus Christ; we are called to have fellowship with the Father.
The command is not about sound reaching the ear.
Listen again, the Father says, "Hear him." It is life to hear the voice of Jesus. To you He says, "Truly, truly, I say to you, an hour is coming, and is now here, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and those who hear will live" (John 5:25). And if you hear His voice it will be life to your dead soul... Peter says: "Moses said, 'The Lord God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your brothers. You shall listen to him in whatever he tells you.' And it shall be that every soul who does not listen to that prophet shall be destroyed from the people" (Acts 3:22-23). Jesus was that Prophet. Have you heard Him?
- Occasion — Peter wants three shelters. The Father answers by taking two of the three away.
- Displacement — Moses stands for the law, Elijah for the prophets. Both vanish. What is left is the righteousness of God apart from law.
- Delight — "My beloved Son" opens the Father's heart to us. The newer reading, "chosen," carries the same weight — close to "only-begotten."
- Direction — He does not say adore Him, though He is worthy of it. He says hear Him. Luke leaves that one command standing alone.
- Destination — the disciples heard the voice from inside the cloud. God brings believers there too — not only into fellowship with the Son, but into the Father's own delight in Him.
And as the voice was [heard] Jesus was found alone and *they* kept silence, and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen.
Commentary for this verse has not been generated yet.