A Glimpse of Jesus’s Glory
In Matthew 16:16–28, the disciples hear a collection of startling revelations. Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God. He’ll construct an everlasting church and entrust its keys to his disciples. Nonetheless, his path—and theirs—will embody travail, even loss of life, earlier than it ends in glory. Six days later, Jesus leads his closest disciples, Peter, James, and John up a excessive, unidentified mountain for a time aside. The time reference, “after six days,” establishes the hyperlink between Jesus’s predictions of his loss of life and this proof of his glory (Matt. 17:1). Mountains have been locations of revelation for each Moses (Exodus 3–4; 19–20; 34) and Elijah (1 Kings 19), and Jesus goes to mountains to hope (Matt. 14:23; Luke 6:12).
All through Jesus’s incarnation, human flesh has veiled his glory, however the transfiguration reveals Jesus in his divine majesty, as “his face shone just like the solar.” Even his garments be part of his wondrous look (Matt. 17:2). Peter will keep in mind the occasion to the tip of his life (2 Pet. 1:16–18), and rightly so, for it’s distinctive. After Moses spent forty days with the Lord on Mount Sinai, his face shone with a mirrored and fading glory (Ex. 34:28–35). And it’s potential that the redeemed will replicate the glory of Jesus ceaselessly within the new creation (1 John 3:2). However on this event Jesus shines with intrinsic glory.
If the transfiguration is reassuring for Jesus, it’s revelatory for the disciples, who will later understand that the occasion provides a flashback of Jesus’s preincarnate glory (John 1:14; 17:5; cf. Phil. 2:5–7) and a preview of his coming splendor (Rev. 1:14–16; 19:12).1 The Father designed the occasion to guarantee the disciples that Jesus is each a struggling Messiah and the Lord of glory. When the work of redemption is full, the trustworthy will see extra absolutely the extent of Jesus’s sacrifice for his individuals in each his incarnation and his loss of life.
Three New Testomony students supply passage-by-passage commentary by means of the narratives of Matthew, Mark, and Luke, explaining troublesome doctrines, shedding gentle on missed sections, and making purposes to life and ministry right this moment. A part of the ESV Expository Commentary.
What Occurs on the Mountain
On the mountain, Moses and Elijah seem and communicate to Jesus.2 Each males are main actors in redemptive historical past, however they denote extra collectively than they do individually. First, they symbolize the Legislation and the Prophets. Second, each had epoch-shaping roles. Moses led Israel out of Egypt and into nationhood. Elijah labored for renewal when a lot of Israel succumbed to idolatry with Baal. Third, each had an uncommon “exodus” or departure from this world. Moses died alone with God on a mountain, and God took Elijah to heaven on a chariot of fireplace. Fourth, each had singular revelations from God. Lastly, each have been forerunners of the Christ.
Matthew merely studies that the three communicate collectively. Luke contains how they talk about the departure (Gk. exodos) that Jesus is “about to perform at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:31). In brief, their matter is his loss of life. Certainly, Jesus is the good Prophet, whom Moses had foretold (Deut. 18:15–18), and he finishes the work of Elijah by main God’s individuals to him.
Peter is dazzled however confused, glad to be current at this unveiling of Jesus’s deity however casting about for the best response. He reverently proposes, “If you want, I’ll make three tents right here” (Matt. 17:4). The proposal is respectful (“Lord,” he begins) however misguided. The three is not going to be staying. Jesus has turned towards Jerusalem (Luke 9:31, 53), as Peter ultimately understands (Acts 2:14–41).
Whereas Peter flounders, the Father acts, dispatching a cloud of sunshine to “overshadow” or envelop all of them. This could remind Matthew’s readers of the fantastic, glowing cloud that guided and guarded Israel after her exodus from Egypt (Exodus 13–14), the cloud from which God revealed himself and by which he entered the tabernacle (Exodus 33; 40). From the cloud the Father reveals three necessities: First, Jesus is the Father’s beloved Son. Second, the Father is nicely happy with him, even when others should not (Matt. 12:24; 15:1–2; 16:1). Third, the disciples ought to hearken to him, particularly, the context suggests, when he foretells his struggling, loss of life, and resurrection (Matt. 17:5).
The voice, along with the imaginative and prescient, knocks the reverent however frightened disciples to the bottom (Matt. 17:6). This was a standard response to theophanies within the OT (Gen. 17:3; 28:17; Dan. 8:17), and the apostles echo it right here and in Revelation 1:17 once they see Jesus in his glory. The Bible mentions two sorts of concern: the awe of the redeemed in God’s presence and the phobia the depraved really feel within the presence of God. The primary are recurrently exhorted to “Concern not.” Right here Jesus tenderly touches his fallen disciples, lifts them up, and reassures, “Haven’t any concern” (Matt. 17:7). The others stay of their concern (Matt. 28:4–5). The scene ends with the three lifting their eyes and seeing Jesus solely, for Moses and Elijah have departed.
Matthew artfully concludes with all eyes on Jesus. Such is becoming, for Moses and Elijah are Jesus’s forerunners, not his friends. The alert reader could recall Deuteronomy 18:15–22, the place Moses reminded Israel that when God’s voice and theophany terrified them, they requested {that a} much less scary prophet communicate on God’s behalf. That prophet was Moses (Ex. 19:18–19). But Moses additionally foretold one other prophet like him, saying, “To him you shall hear” (Deut. 18:15; cf. Matt. 17:5).
Jesus’s superiority to Moses continues Matthew’s “Jesus is larger than” theme. He’s better than Adam and Israel in faithfulness (Matt. 4:1–11), better than the scribes and Pharisees in righteousness (Matt. 5:17–6:18), better than John the Baptist (Matt. 11:11–15), better than the temple (Matt. 12:3–6), and better than Jonah (Matt. 12:41) and Solomon (Matt. 12:42). John and Hebrews concur. John writes of how Jesus is larger than Jacob, John the Baptist, and Abraham (John 4:12–14; 5:33–36; 8:53–58). Hebrews 1–12 regularly presents the prevalence of Jesus to prophets, angels, Moses, clergymen, and heroes of the religion.
The expertise of the transfiguration is each intense and tender. Jesus’s deity shines out and the Father’s voice thunders, but Jesus touches the three and stills their fears. Nonetheless, Peter, James, and John don’t but comprehend what they’ve skilled, and so, for the ultimate time, Jesus instructions them to “inform nobody the imaginative and prescient” till the resurrection (Matt. 17:9; cf. Matt. 8:4; 9:30; 16:20). Till the disciples grasp the bond between loss of life and resurrection, struggling and glory, they can not precisely proclaim the transfiguration. Moreover, in the event that they tried, who would imagine them? Who would perceive them? After the resurrection, the transfiguration will make sense.
The majesty and holiness of God ought to lead everybody, even believers, to concern God.
The Transfiguration Leads Us to Worship
The transfiguration evidently deepens the disciples’ conviction that Jesus is the Messiah, nevertheless it additionally prompts a query: “Then [oun, commonly “therefore”] why do the scribes say that first Elijah should come?” (Matt. 17:10). “Due to this fact” means the disciples are drawing an inference: If Jesus is the Messiah, the place is Elijah, whom the scribes name his forerunner? Maybe seeing Elijah (Matt. 17:3) prompts the question, however there’s extra. Curiosity in Elijah is excessive (Matt. 16:14; John 1:21), since Malachi foretells a return of Elijah to revive Israel (Mal. 4:5–6). Moreover, if Elijah will “restore all issues” earlier than the Messiah’s arrival, why has Jesus spoken of struggling and loss of life (Matt. 16:21–17:9)? In brief, if Jesus is the Messiah, the place is Elijah?
Jesus replies, “Elijah does come, and he’ll restore all issues,” however “they didn’t acknowledge him” and handled him as “they happy” (Matt. 17:11–12). By “Elijah” Jesus means John the Baptist, who has come as Elijah and forerunner. Jesus endorses a lot, however not all, of the scribes’ concepts. “Elijah”—John—should come and restore Israel, however not within the order they suppose. When John got here, the individuals finally rejected him. Additional, if John, the forerunner, was mistreated, might Jesus count on a greater lot? So, Jesus says, “The Son of Man will definitely endure at their fingers” (Matt. 17:12). Then “the disciples perceive” that Jesus is talking of John the Baptist (Matt. 17:13). Quickly sufficient Jesus will repeat that the Son of Man should endure and die (Matt. 17:22–23). How essential, then, that they keep in mind the transfiguration.
Above all, the transfiguration shows the deity of Christ, which ought to steer all mankind to know him and worship him, privately and publicly, on the Lord’s Day and each different day. Second, since Jesus is Lord, his disciples and all males ought to hearken to him, even—particularly—when his phrases problem cherished concepts. Third, this passage lets us contemplate the concern of Christ after we meet him in his holiness and our sin. Hebrews warns that believers ought to “supply to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe, for our God is a consuming hearth” (Heb. 12:28–29). The majesty and holiness of God ought to lead everybody, even believers, to concern God. But, whereas unbelievers correctly concern his wrath and judgment, believers ought to count on a mild contact and comforting phrases: “Concern not.”
Notes:
- Carson, D. A. Matthew. In Matthew and Mark, 23–670. Vol. 9 of The Expositor’s Bible Commentary, edited by Tremper Longman III and David E. Garland. Rev. ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Educational, 2010., 437.
- When the Gospels name Moses and Elijah by title, it exhibits that individuals retain their id after bodily loss of life. There isn’t any absorption into the Godhead or a collective human spirit.
This text is by Dan Doriani and is tailored from ESV Expository Commentary: Matthew–Luke (Quantity 8).
Associated Articles
