THE TRANSFIGURATION IN LUKE
[p. 139] THE TRANSFIGURATION IN LUKE
Ques What is the difference between this account of the transfiguration in Luke, and that in Matthew?
CAC That is just what I thought we might look at. What Matthew presents is that God would bring the future glory of the kingdom into the present, so that what is future might be present power in our souls. It is “The Son of man coming in his kingdom” which is clearly future, but God would have it become power in our souls now and present to those who have spiritual vision.
Luke gives us the present aspect of the kingdom of God, and shows us how we shall be affected, and the kind of character that will mark us, if in the good of the kingdom. It is our side of it. In Matthew it is the divine side, majesty; He is the King. It is our side in Luke, our side as seen patterned in Jesus. In Luke He is the pattern of one who is a true subject of the kingdom.
Rem Luke is moral.
CAC It is the kingdom of God here: in Matthew the future is made present, seen in its perfection in Jesus.
Rem It is “As he prayed” in Luke.
CAC A praying Man, it is our side. That is why it is “after ... about eight days”; Matthew and Mark say “after six days”. The Spirit has a reason for all these things. “Six days” seem to suggest the kingdom coming in as the seventh day in contrast to the six of man’s days that have gone before it. God is going to bring in what will stand in perfect contrast to man’s day. God will have His seventh day! “Eight days” speak of an entirely new beginning for God in Jesus. All the Greek letters stand for numbers, and those composing the name of Jesus make 888 - 8 intensified. That is Jesus! The beast’s number is 666, all short of perfection, man’s number;
[p. 140] but 8 speaks of the pleasure of God, all patterned in Jesus. What marks Jesus as seen in this gospel of Luke is that He is found praying seven times. For a man to be praying shows that God has His right place with him. The first element in the kingdom is subjection, involving dependence, a giving up of our own will and a sense that the will of God ought to prevail. God has His rights then, and man is in his true dignity. Any prayer not flowing out of subjection and dependence and the will of God is not worth anything. The degradation of man is that he is lawless. The first sign of a man being elevated is that he prays.
Rem It was true in Saul of Tarsus.
CAC We see in him a man subdued: “He is praying”. Matthew’s presentation of the Lord will subdue us. The majesty of the Lord subdues us; it is “a light above the brightness of the sun” (Acts 26: 13).
Rem It took seven years to subdue Nebuchadnezzar, but one flash of that light subdued Saul.
CAC It took seven years in Nebuchadnezzar’s case because it was not the kingdom. Sometimes God uses providences to subdue us, seven years of discipline. Saul was subdued by the majesty of Jesus. Each time it is recorded it grows with him: “A light out of heaven” (Acts 9: 3), “A great light” (Acts 22: 6), “A light above the brightness of the sun” (Acts 26: 13). The longer he lived the greater his sense was of the light and of its magnitude. Saul was patterned after Jesus. Jesus is not only the King, the supreme One in the kingdom, but He is the pattern for His subjects.
There is a great need of our being subdued to the light we have; we all have light, but are we subdued to the measure of the light that has shone upon us? If we are, we are true subjects of the kingdom and we shall be marked by prayer. There are three things that man needs. Firstly, his heart satisfied — the Ethiopian is an example of that. He had gone up to Jerusalem to worship but was going back disappointed.
[p. 141] Philip preaches to him Jesus; he finds satisfaction and “went on his way rejoicing” (Acts 8: 39). Secondly, the burden of his sins on his conscience removed — Cornelius is an example of that. When Peter reaches the point in his preaching, “That every one that believes on him will receive through his name remission of sins” (Acts 10: 43), they all got absolution. “The Holy Spirit fell upon all those who were hearing the word”. Thirdly, his will subdued. There was a terrible will with Saul of Tarsus. He had no burden on his conscience; he could say, “I have walked in all good conscience” (Acts 23: 1); but he had an unbroken will. He needed subjugation, and he was subdued in one moment. Up to then, he was doing nothing but his own will, but one ray of celestial light shone in and subdued him. It was “according to the working of the power which he has even to subdue all things to himself” (Philippians 3: 21). Saul is an example of how the Lord could subdue a man and the effect is that “he is praying”. There is no prayer but what ascends from a subdued heart; Saul never got away from the influence of that subduing; it came in and never went out.
Rem I suppose the will is the worst part of man.
CAC It is that which rises up in rebellion. There is no kingdom of God in my soul until the will is subdued, and that is maintained by prayer; it must work through prayer. If we get away from dependence, from prayer, very soon there will be a rising up of what is not suitable to God. Dependence is portrayed for us in Jesus in Luke; “He went out into the mountain to pray” (Luke 6: 12). Man is never so elevated as when speaking to God. If I could always have an audience with the King, I should be regarded as having great dignity. To approach God is great dignity. In human things a king ought to be a pattern for all his subjects. It is certainly so with our King. In the kingdom of God a new order of Man has come in, and is marked by prayer, “And as he prayed the fashion of his countenance became different”. I wonder if we [p. 142] have ever prayed until the fashion of our countenance becomes different? Through prayer the countenance of a man becomes different.
Rem It says of Stephen that they “saw his face as the face of an angel” (Acts 6: 15).
CAC A man’s spirit expresses itself in his countenance. A true man cannot put on a false face. There was no need for any moral change in the Lord Jesus, but the proper effect of prayer is patterned in Him. A man’s disposition, thoughts, feelings and sensibilities are so changed that the fashion of his countenance becomes altered, and it is also true of his spirit. That is the kingdom of God; it sets God forth. With a praying man or woman the fashion of the countenance alters — it works from inside. You get filled in with what God is, His feelings, compassion, motives. That in the heart alters a man. We are often heavy with sleep, “but having fully awoke up they saw his glory”. We want fully to wake up to see the glory of that kingdom set forth in Jesus.
Rem “We all, looking on the glory of the Lord ... are transformed” (2 Corinthians 3: 18).
CAC That is where we are put; “transformed” is the same word as is used of Jesus in Matthew 17: 2.
Rem “Taking Peter and John and James he went up into a mountain to pray”.
CAC A mountain suggests elevation, far above this world, where Jesus takes us. There is no higher elevation than to be brought up to the level of all that was patterned in Jesus. The actual transforming power is the glory, but it works through prayer. As you see the blessed shining of God in a Man — in Jesus — you pray about it and get changed. That is how it takes place. There is nothing more important on our side than prayer. All true prayer begins, “Let thy name be sanctified ... let thy will be done” (Matthew 6: 9, 10). That shows that a man is subdued. The Lord certainly gave His disciples a true pattern of what true prayer is, although it was not given as a form of prayer, but all the true features of [p. 143] prayer are set forth in it. I do not see much in prayer if it does not flow out of a desire that the will of God may prevail. In the path of the Lord, He had His great occasions, peculiar and distinctive moments, as we all have, and we find Him praying at all these moments: when He was baptised, when He called the twelve, on the mount, in the garden and on the cross.
Rem “Jesus having been baptised and praying ... the Holy Spirit descended ... upon him” (Luke 3: 21, 22).
CAC There was that there which was suitable to the Holy Spirit — suitable wood to be covered with gold.
Rem And prior to Pentecost they “gave themselves all with one accord to continual prayer” (Acts 1: 14).
CAC They showed the same kind of spirit; they were patterned after Christ. There were ten days of prayer. It is that new thing that God has brought in. The man of sin and shame is not under His eye, but the Man of His pleasure. If the change in us comes through prayer it makes nothing of us after the flesh.
The first thing is that the “fashion of his countenance became different”; the second is “his raiment white and effulgent”. “His raiment” would speak of everything about Him. With us it would speak of our habits, our associations, our relations with our brethren, our households and our businesses; it is not ‘advanced truth’, for the apostles wrote of it to young converts. “We used to exhort each one of you, and comfort and testify, that ye should walk worthy of God” (1 Thessalonians 2: 11, 12).
Rem “Let us ... have grace, by which let us serve God acceptably with reverence and fear” (Hebrews 12: 28).
CAC That would affect all your raiment. We have the great privilege of being so affected by the kingdom of God that everything about us becomes affected. One has seen it after conversion in the way one deports himself, really seeking to be brought by divine power to be in correspondence with the light that has reached him. Are we all exercised to [p. 144] be in correspondence with the light? It is “from glory to glory”; you do not get on to the top step at once; it is a staircase; you get the light of the finish at the start. But you go from one stage of glory to another, adding a little more in correspondence to Christ. I want to move up that wonderful staircase of glory. John says, “Grace upon grace” and Paul says, “Glory to glory”. You never become inflated; if there is a danger of it, the Lord will deal with it.
Ques What is “prayer and fasting”? (Matthew 17: 21).
CAC Fasting is giving up something that you are justly entitled to because you are absorbed with something else. “This kind does not go out but by prayer and fasting”. Fasting is necessary then, because there are two kingdoms: the kingdom of God and the kingdom of darkness. To meet the power of Satan, prayer and fasting become necessary.
Ques Why do Moses and Elias speak of His departure (verse 30)?
CAC That is a great feature of the kingdom. Moses and Elias represent those who have spiritual intelligence. It was not to be found then on earth, so the Lord introduced two from heaven. “And lo, two men talked with him, who were Moses and Elias, who, appearing in glory, spoke of his departure which he was about to accomplish in Jerusalem”. They spoke of His departure, His exodus — He was going out of everything here. It is a most distinctive mark of the kingdom; it is not atonement. Moses and Elias knew quite well in spiritual, heavenly communion with Him, that the character of the kingdom of God as seen in Him could not possibly have a place in this world which is not suitable to Him. The kingdom necessitates that you and I shall have our exodus because it is patterned in Jesus; it is not atonement or glorifying God as to sin here.
Ques Why was there an exodus for the children of Israel?
CAC Because there was nothing suitable for them in Egypt as the children of God. If the kingdom is in us and we in it, we shall go out, out from this world and out from its [p. 145] religious character. He was to accomplish His departure in Jerusalem, that city of solemnities; it is from that very spot that He goes out — that is the kingdom. The wisdom of the Spirit of God commands one’s admiration.
In Luke the kingdom is patterned in Jesus; and a most important feature of it is that He goes out; you could not possibly have such a kingdom here; it does not fit. It says of Moses that “by faith he left Egypt”. When? I do not know. But in his heart and mind and spirit he forsook Egypt. It was not good enough; he went out-the Spirit records it.
What makes Satan angry? It is not the reformation of the world. No! It is when people forsake his kingdom; when they leave the whole system, religious and all. In heart and mind and spirit you must go out. No one who does not go out is in the kingdom of God. Why do you go out? It is because Jesus has gone out; “He has died to sin once for all” (Romans 6: 10) and has left all that kingdom. “Died to sin” means that the whole thing is left behind. “For sin” (Romans 8: 3) is atonement; Romans 4 is the “Fear not: stand still, and see the salvation of Jehovah” of Exodus 14: 13.
“Go forward ... on dry ground” (Exodus 14: 15, 16). You make your exodus publicly and “with a high hand” (Exodus 14: 8), not as convicted felons.
There is a double baptism, “in the cloud and in the sea” (1 Corinthians 10: 2). The cloud is that of the glory of God shining out in grace through Jesus. If we knew what it was to be immersed in that — justification, peace, access, the love of God, reconciliation and eternal life — we should not be afraid of being baptised in the sea but should have a great desire for it.
Rem “Where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried” (Ruth 1: 17).
CAC Our exodus is outwardly by baptism, which is a form of teaching (Romans 6: 17), and we get the gain of it when we accept the teaching. When we have learned what baptism means, we go out under the influence of all that has come to us, “through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Romans 5: 1).
[p. 146] The Israelites were prepared to go out; “There was not one feeble among their tribes” (Psalm 105: 37). They went out in military order, “Arrayed out of the land of Egypt” (Exodus 13: 18). It was said that “the shout of a king is in his midst” (Numbers 23: 21). You cannot sing the song of Exodus 15 in Egypt, but on the wilderness side of the Red Sea; and as these things have place with us we shall learn the blessedness of sonship. The reason why we do not know more of the Son’s place with the Father is that we have not worked out kingdom exercises. There must be a foundation laid in the soul first before you can learn sonship.
At His transfiguration the Lord was marked by prayer, by the difference in His countenance and by His raiment becoming white and effulgent. “There was a voice out of the cloud”; the scene around fades. If we are in the truth of the kingdom of God we shall get that “voice out of the cloud”.