Matthew 16:27-17:13, Jesus Transfigured (1)

 In Matt. 16:21 Jesus announced for the first time that He would die.  In Matt. 16:27 He announces for the first time, His second coming.  What a promise, especially in light of the nature of His first advent. In His return He will come with majesty, surrounded by the angels, and in the shared and unborrowed glory of His Father.  And it is a return with reward.  This promise is at the same time an indication that His disciples will work in His absence.  It is a truth that gives meaning to today, to how we live each day.

What did Jesus mean in v28? Certainly no one in that group would be around when he actually returned again. Some think He refers to the start of the Church or to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD, events that are important in the establishing of the mystery form of the Kingdom, the Church.  But these do not really speak of the "Son of Man coming".  The context of v27 (Jesus’ coming in glory) and of the disciple's question in 17:9-13 indicate to me that the "transfiguration" (17:1-8) is the fulfillment of the promise in v28.  Those who saw it were the 3 disciples Jesus took along. 

The transfiguration is a glimpse of Jesus’ return in glory.  His appearance (17:2) is not the way Jesus looked normally in His first advent; it is the appearance He will have when He comes in majesty and glory.  Furthermore, the appearance of Jesus’ face reminds us of Moses who, “after six days” (Ex. 24:16), ascended Mt. Sinai to meet with the Lord.  When Moses returned (Ex. 34:29ff) his face shown with reflected glory, something that pales in contrast with Jesus’ unborrowed glory.  Here are some thoughts about questions from the passage.

·        “Transfigured” simply means changed (it is so used ion 2 Cor. 3:18 and Rom. 12:2).  He was changed into the heavenly appearance that speaks of the glory He had with the Father before He came to earth (John 17:5) and which is His now, at the right hand of the Father, and which will be His in His glorious return.

·        Moses and Elijah appeared with Christ.  Why these two great men?  Some say that they represent the Law and the Prophets.  Others hold that, as Moses died and Elijah was raptured, they speak of the two ways believers go to be with Christ.

·        What was wrong with Peter’s idea?  It is, of course, that he minimized Christ by equating Him with Moses and Elijah, as seen by the very words of the Father.  God spoke audibly three times in this say, at Jesus’ baptism, here, and shortly before His crucifixion (Jn. 12:28-30).  Each is the Father’s way of exalting His Son before men at important times.

What the three disciples witnessed that day was Jesus in a “glorified” state, the victorious state of all of the sons of God (Rom. 8:18,29f).  Jesus’ first transfiguration was from the form of God to the form of man (Phil. 2:6-7).  The next time we see Him we will see Him as the triumphant God/Man when He comes in majesty and glory.