GOSPELS 235
shelters to worship in: one each for
Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. However,
as he speaks, a cloud envelops
them and the voice of God comes
forth: “This is my much loved Son.
Listen to Him!” (Mark 9:7). After
this, everything returns to normal.
When the disciples look around,
there is no one there but Jesus.Divine revelation
The Transfiguration has been seen
by some theologians as a blueprint
for how to respond to the glory of
God. While the disciples’ first
response is to fear it, they learn to
listen and believe, reassured by the
touch of their friend, Jesus, who
says, “Do not be afraid.” For a
moment, it seems, some kind of
partition is drawn back betweenthe heavenly and earthly realms,
allowing the disciples to glimpse
Jesus in His glory as the Christ,
the son of the living God.
In the Hebrew Bible, Yahweh
reveals himself in a cloud on a
mountaintop to both Moses and
Elijah. The cloud that descends
upon this mountain conveys the
same divine presence, known in
rabbinic literature as the Skekinah.
The words uttered by God from the
cloud are similar to those spoken
at Jesus’s baptism: “This is my Son,
whom I love” (Matthew 3:17).
God now adds a command:
“Listen to Him!” Luke’s Gospel tells
us more about what this refers to.
In Luke’s version of events, Jesus,
Moses, and Elijah speak with Jesus
concerning His “departure, which
He is about to bring to fulfillment
at Jerusalem.” In other words, they
are discussing the suffering and
death Jesus had recently warned
His disciples about. The use of
the word “departure”—exodus in
Greek—draws a deliberate parallel
to the Old Testament. Just as
Moses had freed the Israelites from
Egypt, the suffering of Jesus would
deliver the people from their sins. ■The new Elijah
According to the Hebrew
Bible, the prophet Elijah did
not die in the usual sense.
Instead, he was taken up into
heaven in a blazing chariot of
fire. This gave rise to a belief
that he would come back one
day to prepare the way for the
Messiah. Indeed, the very last
verses of the Old Testament
make this prediction. “See,
I will send you the prophet
Elijah before that great and
dreadful day of the Lord
comes,” the prophet Malachi
proclaims in Yahweh’s name.
Descending the mountain
after the Transfiguration,
the three disciples ask Jesus
about this prophecy. His reply
is that it has already been
fulfilled in the person of John
the Baptist: “But I tell you,
Elijah has already come, and
they did not recognize him ...
In the same way, the Son of
Man is going to suffer at their
hands” (Matthew 17:12). John
the Baptist suffered and died
at the hands of Herod Antipas,
and Jesus says again that
He will suffer the same fate.
In fulfilling God’s plans for
redemption and restoration,
the way of glory and the way
of suffering are inseparable.See also: The Baptism of Jesus 194–97 ■ The Crucifixion 258–65 ■
The Empty Tomb 268–71 ■ The Great Commission 274–77The Five Milestones
of Jesus’s MinistryWe did not follow
cleverly devised stories ...
we were eyewitnesses
of His majesty.
2 Peter 1:16–18BaptismAscension
TransfigurationCrucifixionResurrectionUS_234-235_The_transfiguration.indd 235 25/09/17 11:20 am