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Part 3 of the Series:
“search the scriptures” John 5:39
Matthew chapter 16 is a chapter of great significance and importance within the context of Matthew’s Gospel. It is a chapter of revelations. We have that great revelation of the glory of the person of our Lord Jesus confessed by Peter, ‘Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God’, Matt. 16. 16. Consequent upon this, we listen to the Lord Himself reveal to us the truth of the church – ‘upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it’, v. 18. Then, the reality of the cross is revealed, ‘how that he must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day’, v. 21. Lastly, at the end of the chapter, the Lord speaks about His own personal revelation from heaven as ‘the Son of man coming in his kingdom’, v. 28. We know that He speaks of His manifestation, when He comes publicly and in power to establish His millennial kingdom on earth. Perhaps some were a little perplexed when the Saviour added that ‘There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom’, v. 28.
How could this possibly be so? What can be meant by such a statement? We believe that the answer is given in the verses at the beginning of chapter 17. On the mount of transfiguration, this is exactly what happened; to the observers there was given a preview of the coming kingdom glory. Peter, one of the favoured group, speaks in his letters of this very experience and says that they ‘were eyewitnesses of his majesty’, 2 Pet. 1. 16.
Matthew and Mark both tell us in their Gospels that this experience on the mount took place ‘after six days’, and yet when we read the record of Luke’s Gospel, we read that it was ‘about an eight days after’.1 The sceptic sees a contradiction, but the regenerated student of scripture sees a most suggestive significance in the two accounts. Of course there are no contradictions in scripture; every word is divinely inspired and completely reliable.
Six is a number in scripture that is indelibly connected with man. It was on the sixth day that God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’, Gen. 1. 26. Eight on the other hand is a number that relates to a new beginning, ‘in the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised’, Lev. 12. 3. Circumcision was the covenant sign and as such indicated a new beginning in covenant relationship for the Israelite.
When we view these numbers through the prism of prophetic truth, we soon see the deep relevance of them in the context of the coming kingdom. When our Lord Jesus comes in manifested glory, He will effectively bring an end to ‘man’s day’, 1 Cor. 4. 3 JND. We live in a day when man is to the fore, his will and his ways are paramount in this world. In contrast, the coming King will subdue the will of man and establish the divine will, and then the desire of the disciples’ prayer will be fully realized, ‘Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven’, Matt. 6. 10. This will, of course, introduce a new beginning to the history of this world, a day of unparallelled righteousness will be ushered in. It will be the day of ‘the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory’, 19. 28.
According to His own sovereign will, our Lord selected three from among the disciples to ascend the mount and experience the glory of His transfiguration. On three occasions, Peter, James, and John were chosen for special privileges:
We read, ‘and [He] was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light’, Matt. 17. 2. The word ‘transfigured’, metamorphoo in Greek, simply means ‘to change into another form’. It is also used of believers in Romans chapter 12, where the Apostle Paul exhorts them, ‘And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind’, Rom. 12. 2.
Only in Matthew’s account do we read of His face shining as the sun. The prophet Malachi speaks of the same day of glory when ‘unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his wings’, Mal. 4. 2. The sun, of course, reminds us of the radiance of the One who will reign. Our minds go back to that great messianic psalm, ‘Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah’, Ps. 24. 10. The glory of earthly kingdoms soon fade because the reins of government are in the hands of fallen men, but here is a kingdom whose splendour will never diminish and whose glory will never fade for it is in the hand of the unfailing sovereign Son.
His garments became as white as the light. Garments in scripture often speak of character. Here was One on the mount whose coming kingdom will be characterized not only by radiant glory but by perfect righteousness. Jeremiah reminds us of such an One, ‘Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth . . . and this is his name whereby he shall be called, THE LORD OUR RIGHTEOUSNESS’, Jer. 23. 5, 6.
The company of four soon becomes a company of six when Moses and Elijah suddenly appear on the scene. These are men of marked distinction on the page of scripture: Moses the man who by God formed the nation; Elijah the man who sought to reform the nation. Moses the representative of the law; Elijah of the prophets. Peter clearly was taken with such august company and in the moment suggests, ‘Lord . . . if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias’, Matt. 17. 4.
Peter had connected the appropriate feast of Jehovah with the kingdom setting, but the time of restored Israel’s rest has not come yet. Doubtless, Peter meant well in what he suggested, even mentioning the Lord first relative to the making of tabernacles. But sadly, this is not enough. Christ bears no equals – has Peter forgotten the unequalled greatness of this One, 16. 16?
‘While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him’, 17. 5. On the banks of the Jordan, at the commencement of our Lord’s public ministry, heaven was opened and likewise God expressed His delight in His ‘beloved Son’. Here, now on the mount of transfiguration, the Father’s unqualified delight in His Son is fully declared. Peter is silenced by heaven’s declaration; he must have felt that he had spoken out of place. There is but One in whom heaven fully delights. He is:
‘Loved with love which knows no measure, Save the Father’s love to Thee, Blessed Lord, our hearts would treasure All Thy Father’s thoughts of Thee’.
Miss. C. A. Wellesley
Fear has gripped the disciples, but graciously the Lord dispels their fears. They lift their eyes and see ‘no man, save Jesus only’, v. 8. Oh, that we too could fix our focus only on Christ! He never disappoints! The Lord reminds them that the vision is to be kept silent until His resurrection. The King is rejected, the cross is before Him, now is not the time to announce the glory of His future millennial kingdom.
But a certain query in the disciples’ minds needs to be resolved, for truly the words of the scribes are consistent with the prophet Malachi who prophesied of the coming of Elijah before the setting up of the kingdom. The Lord confirms the accuracy of this and adds that already Elijah has come. By this He means that John the Baptist has come in an Elijah-like character; he came as a reformer, but he was ultimately met with rejection.
Malachi said that when Elijah comes ‘he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers’, Mal. 4. 6. Here the Lord speaks of how that Elijah shall ‘restore all things’, Matt. 17. 11. John the Baptist never ‘restored all things’ however great his ministry was, but the words of Malachi’s prophecy await a complete fulfilment when another Elijah-like character will bring about national restoration on the part of Israel and prepare her for her coming King.
This transfiguration scene is preceded by the revelation of the cross in Matthew chapter 16, both the cross of Christ and the cross of His disciples, showing us clearly that presently it is not the time for reigning but the time for suffering. Peter speaks of how the prophets ‘testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the glory that should follow’, 1 Pet. 1. 11. This is the order.
The mountain scene is also succeeded by the manifestation of demonic power. The poor lunatic child in the grip of Satan reminds us that he is still ‘the god of this world’, 2 Cor. 4. 4. We know that when our Lord sits upon the throne of David and rules with perfect equity, all satanic power in this world will have been expelled and the devil himself cast into the bottomless pit during our Lord’s 1, 000-year reign.
What an impression this scene must have left upon the lives of these three disciples. May we too be captivated by the unsurpassed glory and pre-eminence of Christ.
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