What was the meaning and importance of the transfiguration?

The transfiguration, as a matter of fact witnessed by the eyes of chosen witnesses, introduces naturally the great change that was about to be effected by the mighty power of God; for that wondrous scene was the passing vision of a glory that shall never pass away. Therein certain disciples were admitted to a sight of the kingdom of God coming with power, founded upon the rejection of Christ by man, and the maintenance and manifestation by-and-by of the power of that Jesus rejected of man, but glorified by God. Of course, our Lord's ministry had this double character. It was, as is everything in Scripture, presented to human responsibility before its result is established on God's part. There was every evidence and proof that man could ask; there was every moral manifestation of God; but man had no heart for it. Hence the only effect of such a witness was the rejection of Christ and of God Himself as thus morally represented here below. What, then, will God do? Surely He will make good His counsel by His own power; for nothing fails that is of Him, and every testimony of His must accomplish its aim. But then God waits; and, even before He lays the foundation for that great work of establishing His own kingdom and power, He gives a sight of it to those whom He is pleased to elect. Hence it is that the transfiguration was a kind of bridge, so to speak, between the present and the future, confronting men even now with God's plans! It is really the introduction, as far as a testimony and even a sample could go with believers, of that kingdom which should be set up and displayed in due time. Not that the rejection of Christ ceases after this, but, on the contrary, goes on up to the cross itself. But in the cross, resurrection, and ascension of our Lord Jesus Christ, we see, by faith, the issue complete; man's rejection on the one side, and God's foundation actually laid on the other. Notwithstanding a testimony to it was on this holy mount brought before the sight of the disciples according to the sovereign choice of our Lord, He takes even out of the chosen twelve a chosen few to be the witnesses of His glory. But this gives it a very important and emphatic place in the synoptic gospels, which bring before us the Galilean progress of Christ; more particularly in the point of view of ministry we have this in our gospel.

Typically, the transfiguration is a perfect and lovely picture of the future kingdom. This cannot be disputed, for we have the Lord's word for it (Matt. 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27). It starts with the coming of the Lord in power and glory. So we read in 2 Peter 1:16-18, "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables," says the apostle, "when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount." Here we have an over-abounding testimony — that of three men, each of them, I need not say, fully worthy of credit. They saw and heard: it was no dream, no fanciful picture. And the apostle shows how it bears upon, and agrees with, the prophetic word, of which it is a confirmation, making it, as it were, more sure, by adding the testimony of three trustworthy disciples to that of holy men of God moved by the Holy Ghost.

A comparison of the several narratives of the transfiguration affords great assistance in the interpretation of the significance of this wonderful scene. In Matthew, for example, it says, "There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom." In Luke it is "till they see the kingdom of God," whereas in our scripture it is "the kingdom of God come with power." The allusion in all alike is to the transfiguration, as a sample, or prophetic intimation, of the day of Christ's glory in the establishment of His worldwide sovereignty over the kingdoms of the earth; and this was brought in, in Matthew, as the title of the Son of man shows, consequent upon His rejection as the Christ, the Messiah. But the kingdom of the Son of man is also the kingdom of God, for in it Christ will make good all that God is in government, and He receives it from God, holds it for God, and at the end He will deliver it up to God. (See 1 Cor. 15:24-28.) It will be moreover, morally, the establishment of the sway of God over the nations of the world. Peter bears out this interpretation when he says, looking back upon the scene, in which he had been permitted to participate, "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty." (2 Peter 1:16.) It is very plain therefore that when the Lord was transfigured before His disciples, and His raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow, that it was an exhibition of His glory in the kingdom; and the voice that came out of the cloud, saying, "This is My beloved Son: hear Him," proclaimed Him as the fount and source of all authority in that day. The reader, as he pursues the details, will not fail to observe that in the appearance of Moses and Elias "in glory" (as Luke records), and in the presence of Peter, James, and John, there is a very distinct representation of the heavenly and earthly saints who will be associated with Christ in His glorious kingdom. More need not be added, as sufficient has been said as to the meaning of the scripture at the head of this note. Peter, James, and John were allowed, as a special mark of grace, to see the kingdom of God come with power, as foreshadowed in the transfiguration. They saw it before tasting of death, whereas the other disciples had to die before they should behold the display of the glory of Christ in the kingdom.

The immediate answer to this revelation which the Saviour makes of His glory as Son of man, is, in the three first Gospels, the transfiguration, compared by Peter himself to the power and coming of our Lord Jesus (2 Peter 1:16-18); the future glory of the Son of man, such as it will be manifested to the faithful remnant of the people, is revealed to the astonished eyes of the poor disciples. The risen and the changed are in the same glory as the Saviour, they are with Him, and hold converse with Him; the law and the prophets give way to the glorified Son of God, who alone is to be heard.

In Mark it's the kingdom of God come with power. In Luke it just says the kingdom of God (v. 27). There may be points connected with the present character of the kingdom though Peter says that the transfiguration looks on to the coming kingdom of the Lord Jesus (2 Peter 1). That would be the way they would see the kingdom of God before they tasted death. They saw it in a miniature form. They saw a little picture of what is going to be in the day of the kingdom of the Lord Jesus Christ. This was to be an encouragement to His disciples at that moment when He was going to the cross. He was going to leave them and they were shown this picture of the coming kingdom to encourage their hearts in the path of Christ's rejection.

Let us then briefly consider the character and teaching of what came to pass on the mountain. What drew out the display of His glory in the kingdom before the time of its establishment was to strengthen His own in taking up the cross and following the Master. For the disciples, like the unbelieving brethren, like Christendom too, looked for progress and triumph, and overlooked faith and love put to the proof in suffering with Christ, the pattern of all holy endurance. Hence the Lord told them plainly of His own sufferings and the glories after these. So indeed it must be for sinners to be saved righteously; and for saints that, suffering with Him, they may also be glorified with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign together. "For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him shall the Son of man also be ashamed when he shall come in the glory of his Father with the holy angels. And he said unto them, Verily I say to you, There are some of those standing here that shall in no wise taste death till they see the kingdom of God come in power. And after six days Jesus taketh with [him] Peter and James and John, and bringeth them up on a high mountain by themselves apart. And he was transfigured before them" (Mark 8:33, Mark 9:2). Not only did the fashion of His countenance become different as He prayed, shining as the sun, but His garments were effulgent as the light. Again, not angels but Moses and Elias appeared in glory, and spoke of His departure which He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.

Here then was an anticipative and unparalleled sample of the kingdom, not as it has ever been since in mystery, but in manifestation as when He comes in its power and glory. As there was so much to try the disciples in His yet to be deepened humiliation, what could be more gracious on His part, or more suited to their need, than to grant chosen ones of the twelve who were to be alone with Him in His anguish, to be also with Him beholding so unexampled a foretaste! For here were the great elements of the coming kingdom.

For after all His yoke is easy, His burden is light, and His cross is not a disgrace but a glory. The testimony of the good and pious Samuel Rutherford, who suffered not a little for Christ's sake, was, "The cross of Christ is the sweetest burden that ever I bare: it is such a burden as wings are to a bird or sails to a ship, to carry me forward to my harbour." The secret of such bitter water tasting so sweet lies in the attractive and super-abundant glory of the Person of the Christ. For who could endure the cross, were it not to follow Him? Who could bear to suffer wrongfully, were it not for Christ's sake? And it is noticeable that the Lord, directly after warning His followers of their painful portion in this world, unveils before His chief disciples in the mount of transfiguration 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 man. It was for them, not for those who had rejected Him. It was given to strengthen and confirm their souls in a due appreciation of the worth of the Master for Whom they were called to suffer; so that the remembrance of His excellent glory might stay them in the darkest hour. For the Lord did not call upon His disciples to take a morbid pleasure in suffering for its own sake, as if persecution were synonymous with piety. The cross was not the occasion for mere stoical indifference to pain or heroic fortitude in the presence of severe calamities. Such virtues were exhibited by many who never heard even of the name of Christ, and yet who welcomed privation and grief as opportunities to display how mental discipline had rendered them superior to distresses which otherwise would have bowed them to the ground. But such opportunities for the practice of self-control did not constitute the cross of Christ, any more than an iron will was the power of enduring it.

What Peter saw on the mount of transfiguration, and what he heard, left a lasting impression on his heart and mind. In witnessing the glory shining in the face of Jesus, and in hearing the Father's voice telling that Jesus was His own Son, there was the divine assurance of the majesty of Jesus, and of His power and coming. The supreme glory shining in the face of Jesus was the evidence of His power, power that had already been manifested in His path of sorrow, and would soon be displayed in the subjugation of all His foes and in the introduction of His kingdom.

The transfiguration was, then, a specimen - a kind of pattern - of the coming of the Lord in glory.

A word indicating the change which took place in the appearance of Jesus in the vision on the holy mount. The Lord, speaking to His disciples prior to the transfiguration, said that some should see "the Son of man coming in his kingdom;" "the kingdom of God come with power;" and Matthew records that Christ "was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light." Peter says he was an eyewitness of His majesty. It was therefore a short glimpse of the Lord Jesus invested with glory, as He is now on high, and as he will be in His kingdom. The law and the prophets were represented by Moses and Elias; but when Peter proposed to make three tabernacles, he was silenced by a voice from heaven, saying "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased: hear ye him." Matt. 17:1-8; Mark 9:2; Luke 9:28; 2 Peter 1:16. The same Greek word is applied to the Christian as being 'transformed' in Rom. 12:2, and as being 'changed' in 2 Cor. 3:18: metamorphosed.