The Story

We follow the Lord and the disciples, and come with them now into a beautiful region at the north. Mount Hermon stands up grandly with its snowy ridges. Below the mountain is a broad valley open to the sun and watered by fine springs and streams which are fed by the melting snow. Trees and flowers are plenty. There are good orchards and in the thickets wild roses blossom and wreaths of clematis are festooned from tree to tree. Close under Mount Hermon where one of the fine springs breaks out which helps to make the Jordan, was the town of Caesarea Philippi, named for the Emperor and for Philip who ruled this region. (Luke 3:1) In the old days it had been called Paneas for the Greek god Pan, the god of life, and today it is called Banias. Can you find it on the map?

The Lord and His disciples were in this beautiful region of springs and flowers and fresh mountain air, and He asked them about Himself; first, who the people said that He was, and then their own answer to the question. Looking back to the seventh and eighth verses of this chapter you see what Herod said of the Lord, that He was John the Baptist risen again, and others said He was Elias or one of the old prophets, but Peter answered for the disciples, "The Christ of God." The Christ is the "anointed," the same as the Messiah. It meant that He was more than John or any prophet. He was anointed with the Divine love, which had been represented by the anointing oil that was poured upon kings and priests. He told them in the synagogue at Nazareth, how He was anointed. (Luke 4:18-22) The Lord told the disciples not to make known who He was. The reason seems to be that no one could be convinced that He was the Christ by being told so, but only by feeling for himself how good the Lord was. Peter had learned it in this way (Matthew 16:17), and so others must do if they learned it at all.

A week passed, and the Lord took the three disciples Peter, James, and John with Him into a mountain. It was probably some part of Mount Hermon, which rises so grandly above the valley. It was perhaps evening when they climbed up to a quiet place away from the town and the people. The Lord was praying and the three disciples were heavy with sleep. Then their spiritual eyes were opened and they saw two angels with the Lord, Moses and Elias. And the Lord's face was shining as the sun and His raiment was white as the light. Peter felt that it was good to be there. But the brightness was more than they could bear, and a cloud overshadowed them. A voice was heard out of the cloud, and soon they were alone with the Lord. The Lord told them again not to tell what they had seen till by and by.

Meantime what was taking place at the foot of the mountain?

1. Who did Herod say that the Lord was? What did others say? What was Peter's answer?

2. Where were the disciples and the Lord when He asked them these questions? In what mountain (probably) did the disciples see the Lord transfigured?

3. What three disciples were with the Lord in the mountain? Who else were with Him? What did the disciples see? What did they hear?

4. Who were at the foot of the mountain? What did the Lord do when He came down to them?

Peter's confession, "The Christ of God," or "Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God" (Matthew 16), means that the Lord Jesus Christ was Divine; He was not a mere man, but God with us. Read in Matthew 16 what the Lord said of this acknowledgment. It is the rock on which the church shall stand, and the gates of hell cannot prevail against it. It means that this fact, that the Lord Jesus Christ is Divine, is the fact on which all other things of the Christian religion depend; and it gives to those who acknowledge it strength to overcome in every temptation. (R. 768; E.411; T.342)

We cannot understand the goodness and power of the Lord's life of trial and sacrifice except by being patient and faithful in our trials with His help. Our own experience enables us to understand His life. What is meant by taking up our cross daily and following the Lord? The cross suggests trial and death, and we must die daily by giving up something of our own selfish way for the sake of what is right. "Whosoever will save his life shall lose it." What life is saved; and what life is lost? (E. 864, 893)

What does it mean to be ashamed of the Lord and of His words? Suppose we want to do something wrong; we know what the Lord says and what He wants us to do; we hesitate. If we turn our backs on the Lord and do wrong, is it not being ashamed of Him? And if we keep on doing this, what will the result be by and by? When we come into the bright light of the other world and the presence of the angels, we shall still turn away from the Lord, and we shall not be able to live in heaven. That is what is meant by the saying that the Lord will be ashamed of us.

Some shall not taste of death. The disciples understood such sayings to mean that some of their number would live on earth till the Lord came again. (See John 21:22, 23) Years passed and all the disciples died - passed on from the natural to the spiritual world. But if one has made a beginning of heavenly life in this world, does he lose this life, does he die, by passing to the spiritual world? Not at all, he lives right on in the Lord's heavenly kingdom. And in another sense some of the Lord's disciples should not die. They represented various elements of Christian character; John, for example, represented love for the Lord; and something of this love should live, even through the dark days that were coming, till the Lord's kingdom should be established.

What is meant spiritually by going into a mountain with the Lord? The elements of character represented by Peter, James, and John - faith, and love for the neighbor, and for the Lord - are those that bring us into the spiritual mountain. The sleep of the apostles on the mountain, as in Gethsemane, suggests their dullness, and our dullness, in learning to know the Lord. What Divine quality is represented by the shining of the Lord's face as the sun? The Divine love, for the fiery sun is a type of the Lord's love. And what by the shining garment? The Divine truth, for garments are types of the thought and speech which give clothing or expression to love. And how may we hear Moses and Elias talking with the Lord? In the Bible, when we perceive that all its history (Moses) and prophecy (Elias) are about Him. But we cannot bear much of the Lord's glory and so it is veiled for us as with a cloud, by the parables and the letter of the Word. These have been a dark cloud to many persons, but they are a bright cloud to the Lord's disciples. And though the Bible is obscure we can at least learn from it that the Lord Jesus Christ is God with us, whom we ought to trust and obey; it is the voice out of the cloud. (E. 64; A. Preface to Genesis 18)

A child so often represents the new birth of heavenly life in us. What is represented by the child possessed with the devil, which tore him and often cast him into the fire and water to destroy him? It represents our spiritual life overpowered by what is evil and false. (E. 815)

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