Isaiah 9:6 says,
“For unto us a Child is born,
Unto us a Son is given; and the government will be upon His shoulder.
And His name will be called
Wonderful, Counselor, Mighty God,
Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace!
____
What happened in Caesarae Philippi?…
Matthew 16:13-21
Peter’s confession of Christ
The Transfiguration (17:1–8)
17:1, 2 Six days after the incident at Caesarea Philippi, Jesus took Peter, James, and John up to a high mountain, somewhere in Galilee.
Many commentators attach significance to the six days.
Gaebelein, for instance, says: “Six is a man’s number, the number signifying the days of work.
After six days—after work and man’s day is run out then the day of the Lord, the Kingdom.”
Peter, James, and John, who seem to have occupied a place of special nearness to the Savior, were privileged to see Him transfigured.
Up to now His glory had been veiled in a body of flesh. But now His face and clothes became radiant like the sun and dazzling bright, a visible manifestation of His deity, just as the glory cloud or Shekinah in the OT symbolized the presence of God.
The scene was a preview of what the Lord Jesus will be like when He comes back to set up His kingdom.
He will no longer appear as the sacrificial Lamb but as the Lion of the tribe of Judah.
All who see Him will recognize Him immediately as God the Son, the King of kings and Lord of lords.
Jesus’ followers took a risk when they believed that Jesus was the Messiah and the Son of God.
Though they had seen Jesus’ power and authority daily, this transformation of Jesus proved that Jesus was God’s Son—the Messiah.
Max Lucado puts it this way…
Light spilled out of Him. Brilliant. Explosive. Shocking. Brightness poured through every pore of His skin and stitch of His robe.
Jesus on fire. To look at His face was to look squarely into Alpha Centauri (a triple star system in the southern constellation of Centaurus).
Mark wants us to know that Jesus’ “clothes became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them” (Mark 9:3).
This radiance was not the work of a laundry; it was the presence of God.
Scripture habitually equates God with light and light with holiness.
“God is light and in Him is no darkness at all” (1 John 1:5).
He dwells in “unapproachable light” (1 Timothy 6:16).
The transfigured Christ, then, is Christ in His purest form.
It’s also Christ as His truest self, wearing His pre-Bethlehem and post-Resurrection wardrobe . . . One who is “holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners” (Hebrews 7:26).
A diamond with no flaw, a rose with no bruise, a song on perfect pitch, and a poem with impeccable rhyme. . . . They were gripped deep in their gut that God was, at once, everywhere and here.
The very sight of the glowing Galilean sucked all air and arrogance out of them, leaving them appropriately prostrate.
Face-first on the ground. “They fell on their faces and were greatly afraid” (Matthew 17:6). . . . In the end we respond like the apostles.
We, too, fall on our faces and worship. And when we do, the hand of the carpenter extends through the tongue of towering fire and touches us.
“Arise, and do not be afraid” (17:7).
(From Fearless by Max Lucado)
When did God open your eyes to accept Jesus?
Recount the experience when God took your heart and made it new.
Thank Him for His awesome love and grace that He has extended to you, in your own life.
And in your daily routine today, look for a way to tell someone else your story.
SELAH (Let us pause and calmly think about these things)
_________________________________
Thursday, Feb 16
The Berean
Daily Verse and Comment
Matthew 17:1-6
(1) Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves;
(2) and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light.
(3) And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with Him.
(4) Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.”
(5) While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the cloud, saying,
“This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”
(6) And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid.
____
Jesus clearly calls this mysterious occurrence a “vision” (verse 9). It was not reality but a glimpse of what the future held for Jesus Christ.
The word “transfigured” in verse 2 sounds esoteric, but it is merely the passive form of the Greek word metamorphoo, meaning “changed in form” or “transformed.”
This same word is used in the well-known Romans 12:2, “. . . be transformed by the renewing of your mind. . . .”
Unlike Matthew and Mark, Luke uses the phrase egeneto heteron, translated as “was altered” and meaning “became different” (Luke 9:29).
In the vision, the three disciples saw Jesus change to the form He will have in God’s Kingdom, which He alluded to in Matthew 16:28.
Why did Moses and Elijah appear with Him?
This is where the events of Matthew 16 become important.
These two servants of God were the most revered among all the Old Testament figures.
Moses, the Great Lawgiver, personified the Law, and Elijah, the Archetypal Prophet, the Prophets.
Evidently, the vision depicted Moses and Elijah speaking to Jesus in a servant-Master relationship, but the disciples failed to see this vital distinction.
Notice how Peter puts it.
“Let’s make three tabernacles, one for each of you.”
The other accounts say he did not really know what he was saying, meaning that he had missed something in his fear, that he spoke without thinking it through (Mark 9:6; Luke 9:33).
What happened as a result of his thoughtless comment?
Notice that Matthew writes, “While he was still speaking. . . .”
This is a big clue. God, immediately seeing that the disciples did not understand, took steps to make it plain.
To paraphrase what God says, “Look! Jesus is MY beloved Son, and He has MY highest approval.
Listen to what HE says! He is far greater than Moses and Elijah, the Law and the Prophets.”
This is why the transfiguration occurred.
God wanted to make it very clear to the disciples that His way of life is based on the life and death and life again of Jesus Christ, not on the Jews’ traditional beliefs.
He had to stun the disciples so that they would put Jesus and His teachings on a higher level than Judaism—even higher than the teachings of Moses and Elijah.
Whatever Jesus says is far more important to our salvation than the minutiae of Moses’ law or the vagaries of prophecy.
In many instances, Jesus makes upgrades to Old Testament law, giving a higher, spiritual meaning (for instance, Matthew 5:21-22). Hear Him!
— Richard T. Ritenbaugh
____
Come join the Adventure!
Skip 🕊️
SB SALT AND LIGHT MINISTRIES 