Matthew 17:1-13
The Transfiguration
1After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James and John the brother of James, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. 2There he was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light. 3Just then there appeared before them Moses and Elijah, talking with Jesus.
4Peter 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."
5While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them, and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"
6When the disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground, terrified. 7But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he said. "Don't be afraid." 8When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus.
9As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, "Don't tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been raised from the dead."
10The disciples asked him, "Why then do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?"
11Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore all things. 12But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands." 13Then the disciples understood that he was talking to them about John the Baptist.
Peter, John, and James were allowed to go up a high mountain with Jesus...Jesus shows them more about Himself and maybe what He really looks like or maybe how man is supposed to see His heavenly splendor...Jesus' face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light...Just then Moses and Elijah appeared...Both men of the Old Testament are resurrected and start talking to Jesus...Two of God's great servants (are alive, if we can call it alive) are talking to the Messiah...Peter asks Jesus if they should build three shelters to commemorate each of them...
While He was in His glory, His transfiguration Peter, John, and James heard God, in the voice of a cloud, and fell facedown on the sacred mountain and now were terrified...This voice of God terrified the three disciples...Jesus touched the three and told them to get up and do not be afraid....Impossible things do happen through the will of God...When they looked up, Moses and Elijah were gone.. The three saw no one except Jesus...
As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus told them not to tell anyone (until after He was raised from the dead) of what they had seen on the mountain...Jesus was becoming more and more popular...Jesus crowds were very large and probably unmanageable... Miracles and doing the impossible were not why He came to earth...Jesus had to preach to different new people and new groups, so a large unwieldy crowd following did not bode well, and was not an intimate teaching setting...It would also be harder to spend one on one time teaching the Twelve, if they added large numbers of followers each day...
Then the three ask about Elijah...In the Old Testament, Malachi had prophesied that Elijah would come before the Messiah (Malachi 4:5)...Jesus told the three that Elijah did come and it was John the Baptist...John was the messenger to come and was the prophet who identified Him as the One who would fulfill Malachi's prophecy...Jesus told them that Elijah had already come, and they did not recognize him...This is another amazing statement from Jesus in correcting or helping us further to try to understand Old Testament scripture...
The three disciples did not understand yet, what was happening and all that had happened on the mountain and even coming down the mountain...Jesus had work to finish before He was taken to the cross...Today, Jesus is still at work in people's lives and His followers still do not fully understand His teachings and sayings...But His disciples loved and believed...We should do the same...