Thursday January 09
Praying and Transformation
Luke 9:27-36
27 "But I tell you truly, there are some standing here
who shall not taste death till they see the kingdom of God." 28 Now it
came to pass, about eight days after these sayings, that He took Peter, John,
and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 As He prayed, the
appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening. 30
And behold, two men talked with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared
in glory and spoke of His decease which He was about to accomplish at
Jerusalem.
In Luke 9:1-11, Jesus is sending out His disciples to
minister. In verses 12-17, Jesus is feeding the five thousand. Now, in verses
18-36, Jesus is teaching. He first teaches His disciples about His person (vv.
18-20). Secondly in verses 21-22, Jesus is teaching about His coming suffering and
sacrificial death. In verses 23-26, Jesus is teaching about discipleship. Now,
in verses 27-36, Jesus is teaching about His kingdom.
In this passage, Jesus gives three of His disciples, a glimpse
of His coming glory and kingdom. Luke gives us a description of this event that
we call “The Transfiguration”. As far as the Gospel record is concerned, the
Transfiguration was the only occasion during Christ's earthly ministry when He
revealed the glory of His person. Luke did not use the word transfigure but he
described the same scene we read about in Matthew 17:1-8 and Mark 9:1-8. The
word “transfigure” means "a change in appearance that comes from
within," and it gives us the English word metamorphosis.
What were the reasons behind this event? For one thing, it
was God's seal of approval to Peter's confession of faith that Jesus is the Son
of God. John no doubt had this event in mind when he wrote John 1:14, “And
the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as
of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.” Of course, John also would have been
speaking of “His glory” that he and the other disciples saw as Jesus manifest
His deity in the miracles He performed for those three and half years.
This transfiguration of Jesus would have also been the
Father's way of encouraging the Son as He began to make His way to Jerusalem. Remember
that the Father had spoken at Jesus’ baptism (Luke 3:22) and would speak again
during that final week of the Son's earthly ministry (John 12:23-28). Beyond
the suffering of the cross would be the glory of the throne, a lesson that
Peter emphasized in his first epistle (1 Peter. 4:12-5:4).
Our Lord's own words in Luke 9:27 indicate that the event
was a demonstration (or illustration) of the promised kingdom of God. This
seems logical, for the disciples were confused about the kingdom because of
Jesus' words about the cross. Jesus was reassuring them that the Old Testament
prophecies would be fulfilled, but first He had to suffer before He could enter
into His glory. Peter later wrote about this event in 2 Peter 1:16-18 to explain
why He and the other disciples were willing to die for the sake of Christ and
the Gospel: “For 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.”
Finally, we must notice that this glorious transformation
took place “as Jesus was praying”! If we are to be a reflector of Christ’s
glory today we must spend time with our Heavenly Father in His Word and prayer!
May the Lord help us today to follow our Lord’s example!
God bless!
