Mark 9:1-9, A Glimpse of The King in His Glory (1)

When? Who? Where? What? Why?  Let’s use the basic journalistic questions to work through this passage on Jesus’ “transfiguration.”

·       When?  Luke says the transfiguration occurred about 8 days after Jesus had given to all who would come the means by which you could be His disciples.  Mark and Matthew say it was 6 days.  Some have made a connection between this story and the record of Moses going up on Mt. Sinai when he saw the glory of God (Ex. 24:16-18).  The cloud rested there for 6 days, and on the 7^th day Moses ascended the mountain and was there, with the Lord, for 40 days and nights.  Because of what Moses experienced, when he returned to the people his face shown brightly (Ex. 34:29).  Moses and Jesus are linked in Scripture, but normally with “contrast.”  The law was given through Moses, but grace and treuth came through Jesus Christ (Jn. 1:17).  Moses indeed was faithful in all His house as a servant … but Christ as a Son over His own house (Heb. 3:5-6).  In this story of the transfiguration there is, again, a contrast as we will see.

·       Who?  Mainly, who was with Christ to view this display of His majesty?  It is the three who were closest to Him: Peter, James and John.  They were with Christ in three special occasions, something called to our attention by Warren Wiersbe.  They were with Jesus at the transfiguration, the raising of Jairus’ daughter, and in Gethsemane.  Wiersbe is reminded of Phil. 3:10 and Paul’s desire to know Christ (the transfiguration), the power of His resurrection (raising Jairus’ daughter), and the fellowship of His suffering (Gethsemane).

·       Where?  The record only says they were on (not on top necessarily) a high mountain.  Tradition says it was Mt. Tabor in the Jezreel Valley.  Possibly.  But probably not.  For one thing, there was in Jesus’ day a Roman security outpost on top of Tabor.  And further, the last geographical notation put Jesus and the Twelve in the area of Caesarea Philippi, at the base of Mt. Hermon in the north.  It is not, in this case, significance where this happened.

·       What?  What happened was that Jesus was “transfigured,” a term referring to a change that takes place from inside but expresses itself on the outside.  The same term is used in two other places in the NT outside the accounts of this event: Rom. 12:2 and 2 Cor. 3:18. Both speak of the transfiguration that takes place in the believer as he is changed into the likeness of Christ.  Jesus clothing came to look exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them.  He took on the glorious appearance He had in heaven before coming to earth.  Peter, James and John were seeing Him in His glory.  As Peter put it, they were eyewitnesses of His majesty (2 Peter 1:16).  And that is not all.