THE TRANSFIGURATION
THE TRANSFIGURATION
CAC I thought we might continue what we have been looking at together. We have been looking together at the transfiguration as presented by Matthew and by Luke, and I thought it might be helpful to us to see the instruction connected with it as presented by Mark.
Matthew presents the Son of man coming in His kingdom, the kingdom in prospect. The future is brought into the present as divine light, so that we might be set now in the blessedness of what is yet future, for the Son of man has not yet come in His kingdom. We have something more than the prophetic word: prophecy is like a candle, Peter had “the prophetic word made surer” on the holy mountain: the day dawned in Peter’s soul; the morning star arose in his heart when the Spirit put the power of it in his soul (2 Peter 1: 16 - 21). We have “the day dawn” and “the morning star” as well as the lamp which makes the future present.
Luke presents the kingdom of God in pattern, the present character of the kingdom of God as known by the subjects of it, all patterned in Jesus.
Mark brings before us the kingdom of God come in power; he occupies us with the power of things; nothing is more important for us because the character of the present day is form without power, “Having a form of piety but denying the power of it” (2 Timothy 3: 5). We all need a great deal of education about power; this chapter gives us a spiritual education in the subject of power, in what the power of God’s kingdom really is. Naturally, we think of power as giving us ability to do great things here, but the prominent feature of the kingdom of God in power is the exceeding whiteness of His garments, “Such as fuller on earth could not whiten them”. It is good for us to get that thought of power- [p. 80] the greatest evidence of divine power at the present time is to be enabled to maintain purity. Mark’s presentation of the kingdom is a peculiar one and differs from those of both Matthew and Luke. Mark puts Elias first — we have all noticed that. Why does he put Elias first?
Rem He comes last historically.
CAC That is why Mark puts him first! Moses was the lawgiver, and he represents the ways of God in setting up the testimony originally; Elias comes in in connection with restoration, the restoring of things by prophetic ministry after things had departed. It is the line of restoration; the gospel of Mark has restoration specially in view.
Rem Malachi speaks of Moses and Elijah (Malachi 4: 4, 5).
CAC He reminds them of Moses, but he says, “Behold, I send unto you Elijah the prophet”, and the Lord says here, “Elias indeed, having first come, restores all things” (verse 12). What marks the ministry of Elias is restoration, restoration when everything has departed. When you have everything gone to corruption in the christian profession, you get the power to restore original purity.
Elias being put first suggests to me the thought of things being restored to original purity. Mark was a restored man himself; that is why he was selected to write this gospel, to render to the saints a service which he had himself experienced. What a pleasure it must have been to him to write about restoration; if there is not restoration there is nothing.
Ques How long a time elapsed prior to Mark’s restoration?
CAC I do not know, but it says that “John separated from them and returned to Jerusalem” (Acts 13: 13); he had been restored later (see Colossians 4: 10, 11 and 2 Timothy 4: 11). He had proved the power of the kingdom in restoration. We know the kingdom in that character today. What marks it is the heavenly purity of it; purity of associations, “Such as fuller on earth could not whiten them”, not of earth at all. It is a great thing to get that idea of power; that is, not to [p. 81] do great things, but ability to maintain a character of purity suitable to God after all the corruption that has come in in christendom. It is most encouraging. No fuller on earth can give the heavenly touch; it is “in Christ Jesus”; in the glorified, heavenly One. In Malachi the Lord Himself is the Fuller (chapter 3: 1 - 4) and it is “the children of Levi”, the servants, who are to be purified, mark that. It is restoration brought about by the heavenly Fuller. The kingdom in power brings in the action of the heavenly Fuller and Refiner. The original purity suitable to God as seen in Christ is the character of purity suitable to God, a heavenly character of purity.
The Lord pledges Himself to become the Fuller and Refiner, to bring about in the last days that which is pleasurable to God. If you once see the ways of God at any time you get the key to His ways at all times, purity of ways and associations, the holy purity that marks the people of God.
Mark’s gospel is for the tribe of Levi, the servants; Mark presents the true Servant. The effect of going through Mark’s gospel on your knees would be that the whole tribe of Levi would be purified. Do we want to come under the cleansing of that blessed One, a cleansing which no fuller on earth could accomplish? “Let thy garments be always white, and let not thy head lack oil” (Ecclesiastes 9: 8). “Thou has a few names in Sardis which have not defiled their garments, and they shall walk with me in white, because they are worthy”
(Revelation 3: 4). That is the kingdom in power, people walking with their garments undefiled. “Pure and undefiled religion before God and the Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their affliction, to keep oneself unspotted from the world” (James 1: 27). Power is seen there, in the maintenance of a character of purity and associations suitable to God.
The days of Moses answer to the apostles’, but those of Elias to the days when things are being restored by prophetic ministry. God cannot be satisfied with a second-best; it must be restoration to first principles. The power of it is set forth in pattern in Jesus. The object in view in all this is that there [p. 82] may be pleasure for God in His people, “Pleasant unto Jehovah, as in the days of old, and as in former years” (Malachi 3: 4). God looks for that in His kingdom; His people should be for His pleasure, and should take a sacrificial character and become characterised by a pure oblation (Malachi 1: 11). “Every sacrifice shall be salted with salt” (Mark 9: 49).
The effect of learning the power of the kingdom would be that we should become an oblation, an acceptable offering to God. I hope we all covet to be sacrificed; there is nothing for the pleasure of God apart from that.
Ques Is this Romans 12: 1, “I beseech you ... to present your bodies a living sacrifice”?
CAC He brings the compassions of God to bear upon us to that end, and there we “prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God”.
Rem “And be not conformed to this world”.
CAC “But be transformed” or transfigured; it is the same word. It is all linked up with the transfiguration. The saints are to be transfigured. If we present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is our intelligent service, we shall come out in the holy purity of the kingdom, and that is the evidence of power.
Rem “Strengthened with all power according to the might of his glory unto all endurance and longsuffering with joy” (Colossians 1: 11).
CAC It shows the line of power; the kingdom in power enables you to preserve a character of associations so white that there is not a spot left to hinder you listening to the beloved Son. “And there came a voice out of the cloud, This is my beloved Son: hear him”. A people who are transfigured are ready for translation, a people answering to that character of things seen in Christ on the mount. If the will of man has been displaced in my affections by the will of God, I am transfigured, and from inside there is a new kind of mind, of thinking, patterned after Christ. People think of the will of God as to where they should live, but it is all seen in [p. 83] Christ. It is not a question of whether I live here or there; the will of God is seen in Christ, set forth in purity and power. If my affections have gone out to Christ, preferring Christ to myself and saying, ‘I have seen a Person I like better than myself’, that is the start of a Christian. He falls in love with what He sees in Christ; he has started now with the will of God. Until then, he has been occupied with self: good self, bad self or middling self; the eye now sees an Object in whom shines the will of God. I see it in all its perfection in Christ. Can we really say, ‘I prefer what I have found in Christ to anything I have ever found in myself’?
Ques What is meant in Philippians 4: 11, “I have learnt in those circumstances in which I am, to be satisfied in myself”?
CAC The apostle was a man of resources — he was satisfied in himself; the word is that used of an island that produces in itself everything that the inhabitants need, self-contained, independent of anything outside. The apostle was satisfied inside with Christ and the Spirit. He had the resources of the kingdom in himself. There is absolutely nothing in the kingdom of God but the will of God; you could not have the will of man there. The power of that kingdom liberates us from every influence to listen to the voice of the beloved Son, and to hear Him tell us that He has sanctified us, and made us sons with Him who is above. It gives us a marvellous place in the resurrection world. It is all coming out in resurrection. You carry your own secret, you are one of the brethren of Christ; you do not want to be displayed in this world, but to move through this world in the power of that world. That is the power of the kingdom.
It would help us to start with the fact that the path of Christ is impossible to man, but possible in the power of the kingdom. The disciples could not use the power of the kingdom; we are often like that, not sufficiently cast upon God or in the spirit of self-renunciation — all the power of the kingdom is in Him; He could meet the whole situation; if [p. 84] I have not the power, He has. God has brought in His grace and the power of the kingdom that we might be patterned after Christ. The new commandment is, “Which thing is true in him and in you” (1 John 2: 8). It is to be seen in those who believe on Christ.
This chapter shows us how the power works; the disciples did not understand it, they were disputing, “reasoning with one another who was greatest” (verse 34). Is that the kingdom in power? “And taking a little child he set it in their midst, and having taken it in his arms he said to them”. Are you content to be a little child in the hands of Jesus, one who is conscious of being loved by Him? That is the power of the kingdom. Only as in the power of the kingdom can I be “last of all, and minister of all”, as a little child in the arms of Jesus, conscious of being in the love of Christ and bringing the affections of Christ with me. I would rather the brethren received me as a little child in the arms of Jesus than as a ‘big brother’. The power of the kingdom is there. The only claim that I have to attention is that I am Christ’s. “For whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink in my name, because ye are Christ’s, verily I say unto you, he shall in no wise lose his reward” (verse 41).
John had to be educated (verse 38); he did not understand the power of the kingdom. Everybody who is doing the work of the Lord is “for us” (verse 40). Whatever is being done which is really the work of the Lord is “for us”. It is different in Matthew 12: 30, “He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathers not with me scatters”. There is to be no neutral position with regard to positive adversaries, such as those who deny the inspiration of Scripture, the atonement and so on; they are against Christ. There is to be no neutral position with regard to them, but here (verses 38, 39) the man was “casting out demons in thy name”; you can pray for such; they are “for us”. But I feel very sorry for that man; he was doing the work of the Lord, but he was not walking with the Lord; he missed the path, and the privilege of the divine path. ‘There is but that one in the waste, Which His footsteps have marked as His own’. He was serving Him but not walking with Jesus and following Him. He was exercising the power of the kingdom externally, but not internally.
And how are we to act with regard to a snare? Cut it off! Snares expose us to temptation and evil. “Cut it off” (verses 43 - 48). Is it what you read? “Thine, eye”? It is a positive snare. Is it a place in the world that you are after? Better be maimed for this world. Snares are the way to hell. Do you say, ‘I thought believers did not go to hell’? Is that to be an excuse for walking a step that way? It is a solemn thing to walk that way. If you do not want to reach the terminus, do not go that way.
The Lord helps us: “For every one shall be salted with fire” (verse 49). The Lord’s judgment and discipline help us. I am a firm believer in purgatory, for I have been there myself, but in this world. “But if we judged ourselves, so were we not judged. But being judged, we are disciplined of the Lord, that we may not be condemned with the world” (1 Corinthians 11: 31, 32). You have a principle within you whereby you can judge yourself. You do not let the salt lose its savour. You do not let what is of God lose its savour in your soul. If the kingdom is in power the salt will keep its savour, salt in ourselves in our own exercises carried out with God and salt on the sacrifice. “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace with one another”. Be self-judged and thus there will be no element of discord; for the people of God to walk in peace together is the kingdom of God in power. These things are most exercising and helpful.