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JESUS TRANSFIGURED ON THE MOUNTAIN 

Matthew 17:1-13 

Key Verse: 17:2 

“There he was transfigured before them.  His face shone like the sun,  

and his clothes became as white as the light.” 

1. Read verses 1-2.  When and where did Jesus go?  Who did Jesus take with him?  Why do you think he only took these three?  What can you learn from this about Jesus’ discipleship ministry? 

2. What does “transfiguration” mean? What did Jesus look like when he was transfigured? (2; Revelation 1:14-16)   What should we learn about Jesus from his transfiguration? (2 Peter 1:16-18) Why do you think the transfiguration was necessary? 

3. Who came and spoke with the transfigured Jesus? (3) What do you know about Moses’ life, mission, and character? (Exodus 3:10; Numbers 12:3) What do you know about Elijah’s suffering? (1 Kings 18:22, 1 Kings 19:4) How might Moses and Elijah have counseled Jesus?  Why did Jesus need their encouragement?  

4. Read verses 4-5. What was Peter’s suggestion? What happened as Peter spoke? What does the cloud represent? (Exodus 13:21) What did the voice from the cloud say?  What does it mean for us to listen to Jesus’ words?   

5. Read verses 6-9. Why were the disciples so frightened?  What did Jesus do to help them? (7) Why do you think Jesus did not want them to tell anyone about the transfiguration until after the resurrection?    

6. Read verses 10-13. What question did the disciples ask? (Malachi 4:5-6) Who was the Elijah the prophecy referenced? (13) How was the prophecy of Elijah coming before the Messiah fulfilled? (11-12) What can we learn from this passage about Jesus and his role in the relationship between God and man? (1 Timothy 2:5)  

Attachment:

• Matthew 17a questions.docx

Message

JESUS TRANSFIGURED ON THE MOUNTAIN 

Matthew 17:1-13 

Key Verse: 17:2  

“There he was transfigured before them.  His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.” 

In the last passage, Peter confessed that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of the Living God. But Peter did not understand what this really meant, rebuking Jesus when Jesus told him this meant his suffering, death, and resurrection. In this passage, Peter, James, and John find out what it really means that Jesus is the Messiah and the Son of the Living God. Let’s pray to know who Jesus really is through today’s passage today.

Let’s read verses 1-2 together. “After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2 There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.”

Six days after Peter’s confession, Jesus took him, James, and John up to a high mountain by themselves. Only these three disciples saw Jesus’ transfiguration. We actually know very little about the other nine disciples, except for the bad things we know about Judas. But we know Peter, James, and John very well from the Bible because they are the future pillars and leaders of the church. It is not a coincidence that Jesus chose only them to witness the transfiguration. Jesus knew their current spiritual maturity and future spiritual potential. Jesus knew the spiritual plan for them regarding the Gospel and the church. They were special, and able to handle the transfiguration, while Jesus forbade them from telling anyone else what they had seen- I believe this includes the other nine top disciples.

We also must be wise and selective about raising up Jesus’ disciples, following Jesus’ example here. In Matthew 7, Jesus said not to give to dogs what is sacred or pearls to pigs. Here, it means that Jesus did not give the transfiguration revelation to the disciples that were not ready for its sacred meaning. He did not give such a precious experience to those who could not understand it, digest it, or accept it. In the same way, we should not push a Bible student to become a Bible teacher before they are equipped to do so. We should not push a Bible student to give a life testimony before they have spiritual eyes to see the work of God in their lives from beginning to end, and spiritual vision to see God’s direction. We should not have a Bible student give a message before they can receive God’s Word for themselves directly from the Holy Spirit.

For example, one Bible student was pushed to become a Bible teacher. But as a teacher, the student drove away one Bible student by teaching the wrong thing. He drove away yet another Bible student by pushing him too hard. He drove away a third Bible student by being too ill equipped to care for him well. Another Bible student was given too big a leadership role. The student was too immature and caused a split in her church by their immature leading regarding speaking in tongues.

So we can see that we need wisdom about the spiritual capability and maturity level of each person because we don’t want to harm them or others by giving them a spiritual task or spiritual experience that is not suitable for them at the time.

Look at verse 2 again. Jesus was transfigured. He was completely changed from his human form to his godly form. His face shone like the sun. It looked just like in the book of Revelation when John saw the ascended Jesus in heaven in his godly nature with his new spiritual body.

We see also through the descriptions in Matthew and Revelation that in Jesus’ godly form His clothes and hair are super white like light and snow, and his eyes and feet are also bright. Jesus is the light in every way as God is the light and we see also that Jesus is God in nature. In 2 Peter, Peter said that in the transfiguration he saw Jesus’ power and majesty, honor and glory from God. Jesus was fully God even when He was fully man living with the disciples.

Why is the transfiguration necessary for the disciples and for us? As we study Matthew, we don’t just want to see Jesus’ human life and imitate it. We don’t just want to know Jesus as a perfect human being with all the right words and actions we must imitate. We want to know that Jesus is fully God who speaks the words of God, who does what God would do, who is perfect as God demands we be also. Let’s pray to imitate Jesus in His godly nature as well as in His human nature, meaning to be like Him in spirit as well as in mind and body.

The transfiguration is necessary for us because we want to know who Jesus really is in His glory. We want to know the godly nature Jesus gave up so He could be our Immanuel, Messiah, and Savior. And we want to know the full meaning of Peter’s confession of Jesus as the Messiah and the Son of the living God. Let’s pray to fully realize Jesus’ sacrifice to come be God with us as a baby in a manger, the suffering servant, and the sacrificial lamb to take away the sin of the world.

Let’s pray through the transfiguration to be strengthened in our faith that Jesus is God and Savior with all power and authority to save us, deliver us, and provide for us. Let’s pray through the transfiguration to grow in our ability to deny ourselves, since Jesus denied himself and lowered himself from His godly nature to the nature of a slave, that is to the body and life of a human being. Let’s pray through the transfiguration to grow in our ability to take up our cross because Jesus, who is fully God, literally took up His Cross and died on it for us. And finally, let’s pray through the transfiguration to do all these things because in Jesus’ transfiguration glory we know the truth of the glory that awaits us in heaven when we stand firm in denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following Him.

Let’s read verse 3. “Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.”

Matthew doesn’t say what Moses and Elijah said, why they came, or why others did not come. Other sources point to the answers to some of these questions, but Matthew primarily wrote to a Jewish Christian audience, so he expected them to make many of the following connections on their own.

First, Moses was a king, but gave it up to save his people from slavery to the Egyptians. We see in the transfigured Jesus how much higher a king is Jesus and how much more He gave up to save us from slavery to sin. Moses led the people out of slavery and into freedom and the promised land. Jesus led us out of slavery to sin and death and gave us freedom from sin and from the fear of death. Jesus led us to the promised land of the Kingdom of God through His death and resurrection. We can follow Jesus to the Kingdom of God by following His command in the last passage to deny ourselves and take up our Cross, and He will resurrect us just as He was resurrected. Finally, Moses was the most humble man of his time, as Jesus is the most humble man of history.

Jesus had started to preach and also to think about his suffering, death, and resurrection. Moses probably encouraged Jesus by recounting his experience of giving up his kingship and freeing an ungrateful and rebellious people from slavery, though those people caused him to suffer greatly. Jesus would experience the same thing in His suffering and death. If Moses made it through, Jesus could.

We too can be encouraged that we can make it through ministering to an ungrateful and rebellious people and still be able to lead some to freedom from slavery by faith in Jesus. We can make it through our suffering through spiritual leadership and lead people to be disciples of Jesus.

Second, Elijah was a prophet. In 1 Kings, he claimed to be the only prophet of God in his time among many false prophets of Baal. He suffered so much he wanted God to take his life. Jesus was the only true prophet in His time. Jesus would suffer so much that all other people would ask God to take their lives. But Jesus had to hold on through his suffering, then go to suffer and die on the Cross without God’s mercy. Elijah probably encouraged Jesus to endure the loneliness of being the only true servant of God in His time, with many false prophets of the Pharisees and Sadducees. Elijah probably encouraged Jesus to endure suffering beyond human capacity to finish God’s mission.

And we also can be encouraged when we feel lonely as followers of God to keep doing His work. We can be encouraged to endure suffering, which is often much less than Elijah and Jesus endured. May God help us to be encouraged by Moses and to follow Jesus in leading people to freedom and the promised land through faith in Jesus and the Gospel.. May God help us to be like Elijah and Jesus to stand as God’s servants through loneliness and suffering.

Let’s read verses 4-5. “Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” 5 While he was still speaking, a bright cloud covered them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!”

Peter started to speak about making shelters as if he wanted to stay on the mountain with Jesus, Moses, and Elijah forever. But while Peter was still speaking, God came to the mountain as a cloud, as he did in Exodus, and spoke to them. Matthew is saying by implication several things. First, as confirmed in other Gospels, Peter did not know what he was saying. Second, what Peter was saying was not good. He instead needed to listen to Jesus speak instead of spouting his bad or wrong ideas.

Additionally, we need to pay attention to exactly what God said. He said, “This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!” The first sentence is exactly what God said at Jesus’ baptism, although none of these disciples appear to have heard God say this at that time. So they needed to hear it for several reasons.

First, God confirmed Peter’s testimony that Jesus is His Son, the Son of the Living God. There were many interpretations about what son of God meant among the Gentiles, so the disciples may have had different ideas about what son of God means. Now, they knew clearly that Jesus is God’s true Son, beloved and pleasing God. They knew Jesus is the Son of Jehovah or Yahweh, not of some false god or idol. They knew Jesus’ true nature as God’s son was the full glory of God. Jesus was not merely a human son of God. They knew God’s Son meant Jesus did and said everything that pleased God, so we must listen to Him and imitate Him. Let’s pray to know and accept the full meaning that Jesus is the Son of God.

Second, God helped them learn that the Messiah is not a human king of a human empire as they and other Jews thought. The Messiah is the Son of God, who is spirit. The Messiah is a spiritual king over the kingdom of God and the spiritual king over all creation. His purpose is greater than ruling physical countries, so His suffering and death is not contradictory to being the Messiah like Peter thought. Let’s pray to accept that Jesus the Messiah is our spiritual king, not just the king of our earthly lives. Let’s pray to accept the Messiah’s suffering and death for our salvation and that to follow Him means we should not expect to fare better than Jesus in this.

Third, “listen to Him”. Jesus had told the disciples of his suffering, death, and resurrection. Peter outright rejected it and the others, according to other passages, did not understand it, believe it, or accept it. Peter and the disciples needed to listen to Jesus and accept His words as the Words of God.

What does it mean for us to listen to Jesus’ words? We must not be like Peter and refuse to accept them because it contradicts our thinking about God and the Gospel. We must not be like the other disciples and fail to understand them because they are so hard to accept.

Rather, we must accept and obey them even if the whole world rejects them, as it did Jesus’ words at this time. Today, this means we must preach and live obedience to the Bible about things like adultery, gender, marriage, and many other things that the world considers controversial. We must listen to Jesus, obeying and sharing His Words in a way that is rejected, hated, and thought of as evil by the unbelieving world and even some who claim to be Christian.

To listen to Jesus’ words gets us through the time of trial and suffering. Not only Jesus, but also the disciples would have a time of trial and suffering because of Jesus’ arrest, trial, suffering, Crucifixion, and death. Jesus’ words of resurrection and new life, if they and we listen to these words, will get us through any such trials and sufferings with the hope of the eternal life and glory we see in the transfiguration. Let’s pray for God to help us to hold on to Jesus’ glorious transfiguration and words always, but especially in the time of trial.

Let’s read verses 6-8. “6 When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7 But Jesus came and touched them. “Get up,” he said. “Don’t be afraid.” 8 When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.”

Look at verse 6. God had been among them and had spoken to them, so the disciples fell facedown to the ground terrified. We cannot come to close to God in our sins. Our relationship is broken and we cannot approach Him. When He approaches us, we are very afraid. Even when an angel comes bringing good news, we are afraid. How much more are we afraid when God comes to us in our sins!

Look at verses 7-8. But Jesus is our mediator who helps us not to be afraid of God. First, He gets us up out of slavery to sin and death through listening to Him and putting our faith in His Gospel words and actions. This restores our relationship with God that we need not have a fear of punishment for our sins. As 1 John 4 says fear has to do with punishment, but the one made perfect in Jesus’ love has no fear. When we listen to Jesus, we obey Him and exemplify Him, including loving others as He first loved us.

Second, Jesus touches us to let us know He is with us. Jesus physically touched the disciples to let them know He was with them so they need not be afraid. Jesus spiritually touches us through the Holy Spirit, letting us know He is with us so we will not be afraid. Jesus mediates between us and God, letting us know God’s will and Word through the Spirit. He is always with us through the Spirit, connecting us to God. 

Look at verse 9. Jesus did not want them to tell anyone about the transfiguration until after the resurrection. He does not explain why. However, we may connect it to why only the three disciples witnessed the transfiguration- that other disciples may not have had sufficient spiritual maturity, nor the future spiritual capability or role necessary to need this revelation. And it may also be because such a witness would change the time and way of Jesus’ death not to fit God’s plan.

Look at verses 10-13. The disciples appear to have connected the transfiguration to Jesus’ Messiahship. For there is a prophecy in Malachi that indicates that Elijah must come before the Messiah. But the disciples did not believe that Elijah had come yet. Probably they believed that the prophecy meant Elijah would return from heaven. So then, how could Jesus be the Messiah if Elijah didn’t come yet, they thought. So they asked Jesus about it. Jesus explained to them that Elijah already came in such a way that they realized that John the Baptist was the Elijah of the prophecy.

In this passage, we see the transfigured Jesus. Through the transfigured Jesus, we learn what it means that Jesus is the Son of God. He is fully God with all glory of God in His true spiritual nature.

Through the transfigured Jesus, we learn what it means that Jesus is the Messiah. He sacrificed more greatly than we imagine just to come to be a human being and Immanuel God with us. And Jesus the Messiah is a spiritual king of heavenly glory who suffered so greatly and died to that we may enter His spiritual kingdom of heavenly glory with hope in God.

The transfigured Jesus gives us hope of future glory. In the vein of Moses, Jesus leads us to freedom from sin and death and the promised land of the kingdom of God. In the vein of Elijah, we must listen to Him because He is the true prophet speaking the words of God not only for our mind and body to obey, but also our Spirit. And He is the suffering servant to the end in order to attain future glory for Himself, God, and us.

Let’s pray to see daily the glory of the transfigured Jesus so we will listen to Him, hope in Him, follow Him, and lead others to Him. Amen.

Attachment:

• Matthew 17a message.docx