Now notice the change this made in Peter, especially after Jesus’ work on earth was done and the Holy Spirit taught him the significance of all he had witnessed. Peter’s letters give ample evidence that he too was transformed, transfigured, by what he had witnessed. Paul’s call in Romans 12 is to be transformed: how can it be done? By following Jesus’ call to deny ourselves, to take up our cross daily to follow Him. Jesus has shown us by the necessity of His death that we must leave the world behind.
Let’s see what this means. Old Testament prophecy spoke often of the Messiah coming in glory. Peter said, “Yes, we all talked about the coming Messiah. In fact, that’s the reason we weren’t quite ready to accept Jesus, because He didn’t fit the blueprint of what we thought the Messiah would be.”
In history we don’t know the last act. It might be that this nation is going to have a hundred nuclear bombs put on it some night. It might be that five years from today the United States will not be any more important in this world than Guatemala.
As soon as Jesus had explained what was ahead for Him and His disciples, He went on to make the promise recorded in Mark 9:1. This promise has caused some people to claim that the Bible isn’t true, since all the disciples are dead and Christ hasn’t yet come in His kingdom. But if you read that promise in connection with the event that Mark records immediately after, you realize that it was on the mountain that Peter, James, and John saw the Son of man coming in His kingdom. The transfiguration was nothing more nor less than the Lord God Almighty reaching out and lifting the curtain, saying, “Though the road just ahead will be hard, this is the way things are going to be at the Second Coming.”
“As for God, His way is perfect,” was the affirmation of David in Psalm 18:30 (KJV). We see the truth of his testimony demonstrated in Jesus’ transfiguration in Mark 9:1-13. Certainly its timing was perfect to meet the needs of the disciples, as it followed on the heels of momentous and unsettling events. From the glory of the revelation of Christ’s deity to the grim foretelling of His death, the disciples had hurtled from the height of joy to the valley of despair as they listened to Jesus’ words. Christ’s supernatural transformation before Peter, James, and John spoke to both responses. It enabled Jesus’ followers to see His earthly mission from a heavenly perspective. In each case where the story of the transfiguration is presented (here, in Matthew 17:1-13, and in Luke 9:28-36), it is carefully placed in the context of what had happened just before. Though Jesus’ true identity was hidden from many because of their unbelief, the Holy Spirit had revealed to the disciples that Jesus was the Christ (Mark 8:29). This confession in the midst of the world’s unbelief led Jesus to declare what was both inevitable and imperative: “I am going to Jerusalem to die.
