THE TRANSFIGURATION
[p. 69] THE TRANSFIGURATION
In the transfiguration Jesus was seen in glorified conditions, and He was apprehended as such by men who were not yet personally outside the domain of death. The transfiguration in Matthew, Mark and Luke seems to correspond in a certain way with what the Lord speaks of in John as the manifestation of Himself to an obedient lover. This gives it a most attractive place as indicating a great spiritual privilege of this present time. We have accepted that the incidents of the Lord’s pathway, as presented in the gospels, have a spiritual counterpart at the present time. The transfiguration is the crowning point in that wondrous unfolding of God’s triumph in Jesus, though it does not indeed belong to this world at all, and hence was not to be spoken of until the Son of man were risen. The triumph of God in Jesus was not limited to meeting all the need that was here: it included man being placed in conditions of glory. The kingdom of God really starts from the point that God has glorified His Servant Jesus; He has received of the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, and has shed Him forth.
The three accounts of the transfiguration in the three gospels are of the nature of a full testimony to the kingdom before it is known publicly. In Matthew what belongs to the future is brought into the present; it is the kingdom in prospect. In Mark it is the kingdom come in power, and this is seen in the exceeding whiteness of His garments — the power of the kingdom being repellent of every soil of evil. It is the kingdom viewed in its present moral power of righteousness and holiness. In Luke it is the kingdom as seen in pattern in Jesus, for the change in Him comes about as He prayed, and His departure is the subject of converse. It is a glory which is connected with dependence and a going-out from life in this world. It is the kingdom of God as in moral contrast with what is here, and the way in which we come into it. He could be transfigured to manifest who He was, but He would also be transfigured by way of dependence, so as to be pattern for us.
We see the kingdom in its supremacy in Matthew; in its moral purity in Mark; and in Luke we see the way in which its glory is reached. In other words, we see Jesus supreme in the rights of His Person, and supreme in moral excellence, and supreme as leading in the way that ends in glory.
[p. 70] In the kingdom things are not given indiscriminately; they are assigned sovereignly on the principle of selection. This comes out in Matthew particularly, as we see in things being revealed to babes, in Peter being selected for special revelation, and to have the keys; also in the eleventh hour labourer, and His right hand and left being reserved for those for whom it is prepared, and also in the distribution of the talents. So three being selected to view the Lord transfigured indicates that the matter in hand is to be the subject of testimony. Jesus has been seen actually by Stephen and Paul since He was received up in glory; but the three on the holy mount saw His majesty beforehand. He could take on the majesty of His kingdom before His death, for it belonged to His Person so that He could be changed from the condition of His humiliation into the condition of glory, and be seen in that condition by mortal eyes. It was a question of what was going to be maintained in testimony, and of what was fully adequate for this. It would link with the “two or three” in Matthew 18. The present time is the time when things are secured in Christ Himself, and an adequate testimony being secured to this on the principle of selection.
“A high mountain apart” speaks of retirement from the world, and of elevation such as is necessary for a vision of the Son of man coming in His kingdom. In the Spirit we may reach the full elevation of divine thoughts; what the Lord did then is to be done in the Spirit now. For this we have to be removed to a distance from all that is of the man after the flesh. It has been pointed out that Matthew speaks much of mountains; this is suitable in the assembly gospel. In 1 Corinthians we are on a low level: “Are ye not men?” but in 2 Corinthians we go up: Paul speaks of a ministry that subsists in glory, and of radiancy. This belongs to the high mountain. Hebrews 1 speaks of the effulgence of glory.
“His face shone as the sun, and his garments became white as the light”. All that will radiate the day was there — the effulgence of God. Then His garments clearly represent what attaches to Him as Man — those moral features and characteristics which stand in moral contrast with all that has come out in the mortal man. He loves righteousness and hates lawlessness; everything answers in spotless correspondence to the light which shines in His face.
The kingdom as we see it here is corrective; that was its [p. 71] application to Peter, James and John. The coming in His kingdom rather suggests an initial idea; it is not His rule as having reached its end, but as introduced. It prepares the way for another order of things connected with sonship, where there is a learning of all the positive thoughts of divine love. There is a great need of kingdom truth amongst us for correction; we have much need of correction so that we may be perfectly free to talk with Him. There was no need for correction in Moses and Elias; they were made perfect. As far as we are concerned the kingdom comes to put right where everything is wrong; it is thus seen in Romans. The kingdom, we might say, had effected its object in Moses and Elias; they were able to speak suitably to Jesus in His glorified state and form. His majesty was not such as to silence creature voices; it inspired holy confidence and liberty. It was not a majesty that isolated itself, and held men at a distance; it conferred liberty, but this could only be where moral correction had come about.
Peter’s suggestion was an unintelligent one; he spoke from impulse and out of his feelings. He did not apprehend the greatness of Christ on the one hand, nor the divine thought set forth in Moses and Elias talking with Him. He would have broken up that wonderful companionship and conversation, and put them in three tabernacles. It is a warning against being sleepy when the most wonderful things are before us.