'Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me and for the gospel will save it.' Mark 8:34-35
‘Transfiguration’ is an unusual word. It’s the combining of the word ‘trans’ which means ‘change’ with the word ‘figure’ which means ‘form’. Literally it means, ‘to change form’.
The reason why we have the word here (you can see it in verse 2) is that Jesus, right in front of his three closest disciples - Peter, James and John - changed in his form; before their very eyes, whilst he was on a mountain with them.
Mark tells us that ‘his clothes became dazzling white (v.3), whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them’.
Luke and Matthew comment on his face also. Luke says, ‘it changed’; Matthew says ‘it shone like the sun’.
And Mark records that the three disciples were terrified in verse 6.
What was this strange and seemingly unsettling revelation of Jesus that the three disciples witnessed? It sounds different to anything else we’ve encountered about Jesus so far in Mark’s gospel account.
For sure we’ve seen Jesus do some remarkable things, but this is different. So, what does it mean? Why did it happen?
I think we need to go to verse 1 and hear what Jesus says there, to understand it better. But I do want the awe-inspiring nature of what Mark records to land on us with force this morning. We are encountering Jesus in a different form from his normal earthly body in these verses, and I don’t want us to pass by the fact quickly.
Verse 1 has Jesus speaking, and he says to some of his followers - maybe the twelve, but more likely the crowd - ‘Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power’.
Let’s pay attention to the words and phrases because this can be a tricky verse to interpret. ‘Truly I tell you’ means that Jesus is about to say something very certain and very profound. ‘Certainly and seriously, I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death’ - which means physical death; they will not die - ‘before they see that the kingdom of God has come with power’.
That means, I think, that Jesus gave the expectation to those listening that, within the lifetime of that generation, they would see displayed, before their very eyes, the kingdom of God.
And I think the emphasis Jesus is supplying here is not that the kingdom of God is going to arrive between this speech he’s making and the end of their lives.
I think he’s saying it has already arrived and that some of those there with him would see, in their lifetime, that the kingdom really was already present. And crucially, that they would see it in power.
Here’s why I think he means the kingdom had come and they would see it in power, and not that they would see the kingdom of God coming with power.
First the word ‘has’ in verse 1 indicates something already on the scene.
Second, in Mark 1:15, John the Baptist was already announcing in his ministry that ‘the kingdom of God’ had ‘come near’.
And Third, because Jesus already taught in his ministry about the way the kingdom would look. He said in Mark 4:26-29 that it would be like seed that is sown and then slowly develops through the stages of growth until the harvest.
And then in the same chapter he also compared the kingdom of God with a mustard seed which, though the smallest of seeds, grows to become the largest of garden plants.
Evidently the kingdom starts out looking pretty insignificant, but that’s not the end of the story - it becomes dominant. But only with time.
What’s the point? The point is that by the time Jesus is speaking in chapter 9, verse 1, the kingdom has already come near - arrived on the scene - but it’s small and it’s not very noticeable.
So, Jesus is either saying that some in the crowd will witness the final state of the kingdom in their lifetime and it will be exceedingly powerful.
Or he’s saying he will show them that, even though the kingdom, from a human perspective, may look very small and insignificant - almost imperceptible - yet in reality it is powerful and glorious in the extreme.
And I think it’s the second one. I think the transfiguration is what he has in mind as the powerful demonstration that they will see.
Mark seems to think so as he connects what happened in verse 1 with the transfiguration by telling us the time that elapsed between the two events – ‘six days’ (v.2).
I think Mark wants us to know that Jesus meant the transfigurationwhen he said that some would see that the kingdom had really come and they would see that it is really powerful.
The transfiguration was undoubtedly an incredibly powerful experience for the three disciples.
And I think, that with eyes of faith, we too can enter into the power of the transfiguration if we give it our undivided attention now.
What happened on that mountain was not normal. We have some advantage over the disciples though - we’ve seen the effect of the gospel of Jesus Christ in the world. And to some degree it looks powerful.
But like we saw last time, Peter had in mind a kind of power that was going to be different – he had in mind earth-conquering power.
Ask the average person about the kingdom of God today and they’re going to look at you gone out. But ask them about the kingdom of Vladimir Putin, or Joe Biden, or our own island, and they will know exactly what you’re talking about.
So, what I’m saying is, Jesus is all about peeling back the curtain for us here; to give us a glimpse into what the kingdom really looks like behind the scenes - behind the scenes where it’s not small and it’s notinsignificant.
And what is absolutely essential to see is that what the kingdom looks like in its power and glory is nothing less than Jesus in his supreme power and glory.
The power of the kingdom of God is the glory of Jesus Christ - face shining like this sun; clothes gleaming spotlessly white.
And it’s the greatest characters of the Old Testament - Moses and Elijah - playing second fiddle to him. So that, just as Peter suggests building three equal shelters for Jesus and the other two who are talking with him - by the way; they’re not talking with each other, they’re attention is fixed on Jesus … just as Peter is about to build these three equal shelters, no one less than God Almighty descends with the clouds - covering them completely - and with the voice of command and authority declares, ‘this is my son, whom I love, listen to him!’
And the next thing the disciples know, Moses and Elijah are nowhere! But Jesus is - he’s right there; steadfast; unmoved; established.
In a new and better Sinai event, Jesus is shown to be the fulfilment of all the law and the prophets of old and is shown to be the Son of God with power - even exceeding that of Moses and Elijah.
Whereas Moses had radiated in his face the glory of God when he came down from mount Sinai, Jesus radiates the glory of God from his own being - declaring himself to be God manifest in the flesh.
There are no words to describe, I don’t think, how impressive this whole scene was in the experience of the disciples.
The sights they saw; the words they heard; the feelings they felt; the awe; the reverence - it must have been simply awesome to behold. It isawesome to behold.
This description of Jesus - face like the sun; clothes whiter than the snowy peaks of the alps - is not just poetic language to describe a plain man like you see every day on the street.
It’s the best language that can be used to describe the real majesty and the real glory that Jesus really possesses.
And as we behold him in this glory, we are meant to conclude that the kingdom of God is also surpassingly magnificent and powerful and glorious.
Jesus is so integral to the kingdom of God that they are inseparable.
When you encounter Jesus, you are encountering the kingdom for God.
Jesus came into the world - he came near to us, and we find John the Baptist saying ‘behold, the kingdom of God has come near’.
If you belong to Jesus, then you belong to the kingdom.
As Jesus is really glorious, so the Kingdom is really glorious. As Jesus laid his glory by, so the kingdom looks modest now. But, like Jesus, it won’t remain that way.
As the events on the mountain conclude and the disciples start to descend from the mountain with Jesus, Jesus gives them strict instructions in verse 9 to keep what they’ve seen concealed until ‘the son of man had risen from the dead’.
Which I think tells us something about the true nature of Jesus as they saw him on the mount of transfiguration, and about the manifestation of Jesus after his resurrection and in his ascension.
After the resurrection of Jesus there would be no more need for the disciples to keep quiet about what they had seen on the mountain because many would see him in his glorified state, and it would present no hinderance to his mission then.
That means that the glory and power of the kingdom finds its goal in the resurrection from the dead.
Jesus’ resurrection glory is altogether different to the ordinariness of the body that went to the cross.
And so, it is with us. If we die in Christ we will also be raised with Christ. And like him, our resurrection bodies will not be ordinary.
Here’s Philippians 3:20, ‘But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a saviour from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control [kingdom power], will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body’.
That’s a promise for now, of resurrection glory that reflects the glory of the person of the Son of God - of which we see a glimpse here on the mount for transfiguration.
So, I think that should give is huge confidence and exquisite expectation about the things that God has in store for us who believe in Jesus.
But between now and then, God wants us to unmistakably listen to Jesus. Our lives are to be marked by attentiveness to God’s own dear son whom he loves.
As kingdom sons and daughters, we get our marching orders from the king. And the disciples had to learn to alter their expectations about how the restoration of all things would come about and what it would actually be like to line up with the teaching of Jesus.
And we have to learn this too.
As we saw last time, the disciples expected a conquering-king type messiah who would restore the kingdom of Israel.
But just like last time, Jesus had to show them that the fullness of the restoration neither comes how they expected, nor perhaps how they wanted.
The way the kingdom comes is this: ‘suffering before glory’. And this is relevant for us. Who on earth likes suffering? Answer: nobody!
And then to think: the glorious resurrection to come - that we were just reveling in - will only come after suffering, is certainly not we want and maybe not what we expected either.
Perhaps we thought that getting saved would mean peaceful, calm, contented lives, not painful hardship and lives characterised by suffering.
And it would be right to think that coming to faith in Christ does mean peaceful, calm, contented lives, if we have grasped that this is true of our spiritual selves.
Our souls should be peaceful, calm and content in Jesus if we are followers of Jesus. Nothing, after-all, can separate us from the love of God!
That’s very peace giving; very calming; very contentedness inducing. Our lives are hidden with Christ in God and are not first and foremost earthbound.
But that is not what our bodily lives are like on earth. As followers of Jesus, our lives on earth will be marked by suffering.
Standing for Jesus, working for Jesus, speaking for Jesus, loving what Jesus loves, hating what Jesus hates, listening to Jesus’ voice, relying on Jesus - following Jesus, will involve suffering for Jesus in many different expressions of hardship and self-denial.
But don’t take my word for it, let’s see Jesus teach this to the disciples through their conversation on the way down the mountain.
In verse 11 the disciples asked Jesus, ‘why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?’
I think that what prompts this question from the disciples is the fact that they just saw Elijah appear on the mountain with Jesus. And not only was Jesus there first, but no sooner had Elijah appeared than God had caused him to disappear and Jesus to remain.
And they just struggled to fit that with the Old Testament passage in Malachi by which they expected Elijah to come before the Messiah and restore all things.
Malachi prophesied this, ‘see I will send the prophet Elijah to you beforethat great and dreadful day of the Lord comes. He will turn the hearts of the parents to their children, and the hearts of the children to their parents; or else I will come and strike the land with total destruction’.
And Jesus’ response to them is not that they misinterpreted Malachi. But that Elijah does come first and does restore all things but not in the way they expected.
If it was in the way they expected, then it would invalidate other Old Testament scriptures that testified that the Son of Man would have to suffer and be rejected (v.12).
Passages like:
Isaiah 53:3: ‘He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, and familiar with suffering.
Or, Psalm 22:16: ‘Dogs surround me, a pack of villains encircles me; they pierce my hands and my feet’.
Or, Zechariah 12:10: ‘They will look on the one they have pierced…’
So, Jesus is saying, the way it fits together is not that Elijah comes and a glorious conquering end to the story is immediately realised. It’s not like that.
Instead, it’s like this: Elijah has come ‘and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him’. Then they will reject the Messiah and make him suffer. And only then the glorious coming of the kingdom will be seen - first in the resurrection of the Messiah from the dead; conquering death and reigning over sin.
And second in the glorious return of Jesus, when he will finally vanquish all his enemies on the great day of the Lord.
What Jesus means by ‘Elijah has come and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him’ is that, the spirit of Elijah had already come in the person of John the Baptist.
And Herod and his illegitimate wife had done to him everything they wanted, by imprisoning him and beheading him.
Which is not surprising given what Ahab and Jezebel did to Elijah just as it was recorded in the Old Testament scriptures!
So, Jesus shows the disciples that Elijah has already come in the person of John the Baptist and therefore they must now expect the fulfilment of the scriptures that speak of the messiah’s suffering and rejection.
The kingdom does come, but the pattern of its coming is ‘suffering before glory’. John the Baptist led the way in that pattern.
Jesus was going to exemplify it because there was no one who deserved to suffer less than Jesus, who suffered like he suffered.
And his disciples will follow in the pattern as they go forth, not loving their lives unto death, and then inheriting the glories of the kingdom immediately, and then fully at the resurrection of the dead.
And it is the pattern Jesus has called us to also. We had it last time, Mark 8:34, ‘whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me’.
It is the pattern Jesus’ apostles call us to.
Romans 8:17, ‘Now if we are children, then we are heirs - heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory’.
And here’s Peter who was with Jesus on the mount of Transfiguration,
‘But rejoice inasmuch as you participate in the sufferings of Christ, so that you may be overjoyed when his glory is revealed’.
I hope you hear in those texts both suffering and glory. And suffering comes first! Then glory - just like Jesus shows us.
The transfiguration then, is a glimpse of the glory but it’s not therealisation of the glory. Jesus is showing what is to come, but is not yet here.
That serves to help the disciples understand that an over-realised eschatology leads to inaccurate expectations in life.
What do I mean by that?
‘Eschatology’ is a word that describes the theology of the Eschaton. ‘Eschaton’ is a Greek word that simply means ‘the end’. We have the word ‘escalator’ which is a machine that moves us to the final destination – to the end.
The disciples had an over-realised eschatology. They thought the Old Testament scriptures meant that when Elijah appeared and the Messiah arrived, the desert would bloom, and the day of the lord would be realised. But they missed the suffering servant part! They missed the rejection and the suffering.
They accelerated the glory, and then when Jesus appeared they couldn’t reconcile all his suffering talk and his allusions to death with their expectations.
And we are constantly in danger of an over-realised eschatology. We live in this comfortable land of plenty, where we enjoy peace and tolerance, and we get really ‘at home’ here. We start to live as though the desert has bloomed and the glory has already arrived. But then cancer comes, or redundancy, or family discord and our world is shattered.
The reason it feels shattered is because we’ve confused the glory to come with the here and now. Life in Christ is not meant to be comfort on earth. Rather it will feel like some kind of suffering most of the time all the way on this Christian journey to our heavenly home.
And getting the Eschaton - the glorious end - in the right place is the key to not being disappointed in this life.
You were not made for this world. In Christ you have been made for the world to come, ‘where righteousness dwells’, Peter says in his second letter.
So, I think the transfiguration is about a foretaste of the real glory of Jesus and his kingdom which is meant to be very tantalizing.
But which is also reminding us that that glory is something exceedingly good to look forward to. And something exceedingly good to draw us on. But it is not something to think we have already obtained.
To be sure, we have obtained the spiritual reality of it – union with Christ and all its benefits. But the bodily consummation of it is yet to come.
Our expectation needs to be, right now we suffer with Christ - as he suffered - in order that we might share in his glory with a gloriously raised glorious body!
Finally, one note of caution: Don’t confuse the problem of over-realised eschatology with a healthy desire for the consummated kingdom to arrive.
We can be so comfortable in this world that we think that the glory of heaven is already on the scene and in that case, death feels like loss to us. We don’t want that.
But don’t hear me saying that we shouldn’t focus on heaven and all its glories! We should. We need to. And we will run a better race here below if we do.
I’m amazed at how little Christians talk about heaven and how little anticipation of the resurrection there is in the church. Why don’t we lovethe book of Revelation? Why don’t we revel in the prospect of the second coming of Jesus? Why are we not saying to each other ‘I just can’t wait for the Lord Jesus to come again’.
Maybe it’s because we’re so impressed with the world we’re inhabiting right now!
I think we should be talking amongst ourselves less about our present circumstances and more about our union with Christ and our future participation in the glorious kingdom of our Saviour.
These disciples model it for us - they talked of the resurrection as they descended the mountain (v.10).
And the Apostle Paul encourages us precisely in this way: ‘So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal’ 2 Corinthians 4:18.
I think the more we learn to think and talk in this way the happierChristians we’ll actually be in our lives here below.
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