Mat 17;9-13 9 When they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.” 10 And His disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” 11 And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things; 12 but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” 13 Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist.
If we go to a place and so much enjoy that place, we hate to leave that place and stubbornly don’t want to leave. Sometimes we have to drag children from that place. That is how I feel about the transfiguration scene. Like Peter would want to build tents, to stay there for longer. I would love to remain in that scene near to Christ in the manifested glory of Christ, with Moses and Elijah talking, and the Father’s Shekinah glory, sitting and watching and learning more lessons and beholding the glory of Christ… with its amazing lessons… and on what the Father and Son had to do for our great redemption… what cost they had to pay to redeem you and me from our depravity and sin… continually meditating and remaining there… I don’t want to leave… feel like those children not leaving.
But our Lord has refused to allow building tents and staying there, and brings the disciples down the mountain, so we have to come down from the transfiguration mount. This is because this is not the time of glory. Glory is coming… that time we will climb another mount called Mount Zion… there forever live and behold Christ’s glory for all eternity, never have to climb down that mount, but now… like the Lord and disciples’ case, we must also come down from the mountain and because there are immediate duties we need to fulfill before we reach the glory.
So after this transcendent, amazing experience of the transfiguration, it is time to come down now. It is a high mountain, so the decent is a long trekking exercise for the Lord and the three, and while coming down, we can imagine the Lord fully encouraged by his Father’s assurance and encouraged, ready to determinately go to Jerusalem and suffer many things and be killed and rise on the 3rd day… assured, bright face coming down. Think of the disciples… what thoughts must be running in their minds… Sadly they also must be bright face with faith and joy, but a puzzled face. Puzzled face… a confused face. You know… scratching heads… frowning face… a puzzle game… a picture will be in pieces, we will have to fit everything together, when we cannot do that… it is not fitting properly, we look puzzled. It is sad and amazing that they are puzzled after the great experience of the transfiguration. They cannot fit together their old understanding and teaching and what they saw now… so puzzled.
There is a discussion recorded for us on how the Lord clears the puzzle and shows how it fits. When I initially read, this passage is not like the overwhelming, attracting, magnetic glory scene of the Transfiguration… but this is a scene of very confused disciples… when I read, I also had a puzzled face… what am I going to preach on this… and what lessons we will learn… But the Holy Spirit is wiser than us, and we believe every verse and the order in the way it is recorded is for our great good, that is why we do verse by verse preaching, and we need to trust and prayerfully read, he will bless every verse for us.
Though it is not an exciting and wonderful passage to read like the transfiguration, but this is a passage if we grasp, will help us grow more in spiritual maturity and understanding. So let us get down from the transfiguration mountain and follow the Lord and disciples as they are coming down the mountain.
So let us understand this passage… 3 Headings:
- Strict orders of the Lord to the 3 witnesses.
- Obedience of the 3 witnesses and their confusion.
- Solution/answer of our Lord to their confusion.
1. Strict Orders of Jesus to the 3 Witnesses
Verse 9: When they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”
He charged, commanded them, they should not tell anyone about this vision. He gives strict orders not to share with anyone until he rises.
Imagine they are coming down from the mountain, 3 disciples after seeing the majestic glory of the Lord… imagine what it sounded like for them… They have been in a situation with physical eyes… saw something never seen in their entire life, why never has any man or woman had this kind of vision… here incarnate God with full blazing glory as God… veil removed for a moment and face and garments glow with the brightness of the glory of God… you saw that with your own eyes… You saw the great towering figures of the Old Testament… Moses and Elijah standing in physical form… you saw them… and heard a conversation between them and Jesus… Added to that, you have seen what you only read in the Old Testament… Shekinah glory of God in the cloud… you have seen that cloud… you heard the very voice of Jehovah from that cloud…
Boy, this is a vision of visions, the greatest vision, who has seen anything like this in the entire Bible. This is beyond what Moses saw, he just saw the burning bush and voice coming… what the Israelites saw, all the prophets saw… If you had gone through that experience… what will be the state of your heart and mind… this vision must be filling you… Boy, that must be fire in your bones, huh? Your whole being ablaze.
What will you be eager and yearning to do…? Your heart is like a bursting wineskin… shaken gas filled soda bottle… “When will we go and burst open my mouth and share this with other disciples… and family and friends… Do you know what we saw… what a vision… in the entire universe only 3 selected, and I am one…” Oh, what excitement…
“Philip, Andrew, Thomas… let me tell you what we saw on the mount… oh, I am not mad… my head is not screwed… ask John and James…” Especially think of Peter who cannot keep his mouth shut… oh, heart and mind must be exploding… bursting… coming down the mountain easy… fast from the mountain like a horse… Lips waiting to open. Now what does the Lord do…? Like Jesus pulling a charged horse and dragging and tying. He puts a bridle upon their lips and says do not share this until I have been raised from the dead…
Oh, so difficult is this… “Aaahhhh, Lord, please hit me or punish me if you want… don’t give this punishment… how can we keep quiet… this is what we were wanting to see and preach…” telling us not to share. Oh, very difficult… why… how… how long… “heart will burst, Lord…”
One comfort is He didn’t say don’t share this at all, but don’t share until a timeline… Verse 9: “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man has risen from the dead.”
Think from their side… Raising from the dead… ah… they didn’t have a clue what he was talking about… Raising from the dead… till when…? That must be a very long time… until then to shut my mouth… not a soul should know this… until he has risen from the dead… There was an implicit command, “after I have risen, you must speak about this and preach about this always.”
They didn’t understand… But from our side… We can understand, but it was not clear to them. Why does He keep saying this? He said this before, even when Peter announced 16:20: “Then he ordered his disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.” Why?
Simply this, because the world of that day, in that place, had a wrong idea of the Messiah… was looking for a political Messiah, a political Deliverer. They wanted somebody to knock off the Romans. And their misguided intentions and expectations only confused the scene. And if down the mountain these three guys came, with this incredible message, “Boy, you’ll never believe what we saw,” all it’s going to make the people think is, “Boy, this is really the guy, and let’s really push hard to get Him to throw the Romans out.” They’d already tried to push Him into rebellion several times. To tell of the transfiguration any earlier would have been costly. A riot would surely have ensued by well-meaning but wrong-headed people that would seek to immediately crown Christ as earthly king. They would have stood in the way of the cross; so Jesus calls for silence until the resurrection.
So, He says, “Don’t say anything about it, until”—verse 9—“the Son of Man is raised again from the dead.” Why till the Resurrection? “Because if you wait till after the resurrection, they’ll know that I didn’t come to conquer the Romans; I came to conquer death.” See? And they’ll know that that is a spiritual reality, not an earthly one, not a political one, not a material one, not a military one, not an economic one. Jesus is not involved in politics; He is involved in conquering death and sin and hell. And if you wait till after the resurrection, they’ll see that. So, they aren’t to say anything.
I felt like not only worshiping the Lord on the transfiguration mountain, but every verse down the mountain makes me worship him. Though His glory had been displayed, He still must go to Jerusalem, must suffer in the hands of unjust men, and must die on the cross for our sins. What meekness our Savior displays in this! He possessed such power and glory as was displayed on the mountain—and yet, He hid it all and willingly went to the cross for us! Didn’t want to bring any hindrance for him to go and die on the cross… what a gracious savior. Fully focused on the cross… in the next every verse is fully focused on the cross… what amazing love… we are focused on selfish things… he is focused completely denying himself and giving himself to dying on the cross… wondrous love.
2. Obedience and Perplexity of the 3 Witnesses
Verse 10: And His disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
What is his command… and why are they asking an unrelated question… it is not clear… He says don’t share this vision till the resurrection… they are asking a question about Elijah… it is not clear… when a passage is not clear… what should we do? The Rule: Look at other passages that are more clear. So what are the other passages, so we go to Mark or Luke and see if it is clear. Luke doesn’t record this… so Mark…
Mark 9:9-10: “As they were coming down from the mountain, He gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, until the Son of Man rose from the dead. They seized upon that statement, discussing with one another what rising from the dead meant.“
Mark tells us that “they kept this word to themselves, questioning what the rising from the dead meant” (Mark 9:9-10).
Verse 9… his order, and then 10. This saying of prohibition… Though it was a very, very difficult command. Just now they saw the glory of Jesus and what was the command from the cloud? “listen to him.” So, they decided to obey him, though they didn’t understand… they deliberately carefully obeyed his command… But as they were being obedient… and determined to be obedient, in their mind, they had a question of what rising of the dead must mean.
This phrase registers in their mind for the first time. You remember last time in chapter 16 he said, they only heard he go to Jerusalem, will suffer many things, killed… he said “will raise from dead”… but didn’t listen. By then Peter, pulled the Lord and rebuked. But now it registers, and they are growing a step now in their understanding of Messianic work… though we don’t like and don’t want, he is going to suffer, die, and rise from the dead. Now what does that rising the dead mean? It is progress from the last chapter, and it is a very good question.
Look at the wisdom of the Lord… to these dull disciples who never want to hear his mission… like teaching children, he makes them think. Like I say to my son… he wants to eagerly go and play cricket… I want him to understand the rational numbers math lesson, I tell him you are not going out to play until you become an expert in rational numbers. So now the one question that comes to his mind… “Oh, I cannot go and play… difficult command, but there is a limit… I can go when I become an expert in rational numbers, because after that I can go and play cricket…” This limitation forces him to ask… “how expert…?” He may ask me… and I say, “read the chapter carefully, go through online videos, do the exercises,” then he becomes an expert. Then you can go… So while he is at home… I put a difficult command, “You cannot go out… until you become expert on rational numbers…” that compels him to focus on rational numbers… wondering when the commandment will come to the end… “expert”… Do you see…? The Lord uses a similar tactic.
He now puts a difficult command… it is essential for that situation for his mission… “don’t share this… not permanently, but till the Son of Man rise from the dead…” So they understand we shouldn’t share… So difficult… but it is only for a period… after that we can share… when will that period end? When the Son of Man rises from the dead. So it makes them, forces their dull mind to think, what does rising from the dead mean? Wow… it is a great question… This phrase keeps ringing in their mind… because they can only share after this happens… what does it mean…? For the first time a great, good question comes…
What do they first do? They don’t boldly go to the Lord… they discuss among themselves…
Verse 10: “They seized upon that statement, discussing with one another what rising from the dead meant.” They are obeying his command, but fastened on their mind… “rising from the dead”… disputing with one another what “rising from the dead” is. They are preoccupied with the limitation placed on the commandment… the limitation is don’t speak until the Son of Man rises from the dead.
So you have obedience and perplexity of the 3 witnesses.
The Lord didn’t wisely talk about his death directly… didn’t say “don’t until the Son of Man go to Jerusalem, suffer, be killed and rise…” only “rising from the dead…” but makes them focus on the glory of resurrection… so they reason… “Okay… the Lord is going to rise from the dead… You don’t raise from the dead… until you die… so he is going to die… ah… that is what he said last chapter and that is what he was discussing with Moses and Elijah…”
BUT BUT a great but: How to put together the death of Jesus to their own scheme of how the Messiah will accomplish his mission. In their scheme, only a glorious Messiah… no idea of suffering… So how can he die… and then rise?
See, it is so clear to us from this side… but from their side, it was very difficult, especially with the wrong teaching about the Messiah they have been taught. They are confused… while they obey their command, there is confusion about this aspect of the command.
Their confusion leads to
The Wonderful Answer of Jesus
The disciples start with that question, avoiding any even indirect references to the Messiah’s suffering and death. They are confused, which is interesting. The Lord knows how to answer any question.
Jesus provides a three-part answer: Affirmation, Interrogation, and Explanation.
Affirmation
Verse 11: And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things.”
The verb tense is indefinite present, not “Elijah shall” or “has come.” “Elijah comes and restores all things.” What you have been taught by the scribes is true: that before the Messiah comes, Elijah must come. Malachi had prophesied that before the day of the Lord—a day of mercy ending in a day of judgment—Elijah will come. Interestingly, although the Lord was all the time against the scribes and Pharisees, here he agrees, because it is scriptural.
Interrogation
Then he asks a question, an interrogation. Look at Mark 9:12: “And He said to them, ‘Elijah does come first and he restores all things. And yet how is it written of the Son of Man that He will suffer many things and be treated with contempt?’”
Jesus raises a question. You don’t want to talk about my suffering, using the Bible prophecy about Elijah. Let me tell you from the Bible… how is it that the same Bible talking about Elijah coming talks about the Son of Man suffering? This is his question.
Amazing, marvelous glory and love of Jesus flows in every verse. If you ask me, if I must suffer these terrible things, you are reminding me… “I don’t want to talk about that now and go through that torture now thinking…” But here, the disciples are avoiding that discussion… The Lord is again and again bringing them back to the central burning issue at this point about his mission. Jesus is in a fixation of the ordeal of Jerusalem… he will not allow his disciples—despite their spiritually thick skin—to escape this truth that the Son of God must suffer… the Messiah must suffer… and be rejected. He must accomplish his mission through this… glory follows the suffering… I see my Lord’s unshakable love for me.
So what he does in this situation: “You ask me a question about the wrong idea of the Messiah, ‘how do scribes say Elijah must come first?’ I answer, he does come. The scribes are right. But now I ask you a question… how is it that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be utterly discarded as useless—the worst, most terrible insult?”
What he is telling them: The scribes were being selective in their teaching of the Messiah. They didn’t teach the entire Bible to you. Yes, they taught you before the Messiah comes Elijah must come. That is true. But they never taught the Messiah who comes will be a suffering servant who will suffer many things and be rejected… he will be a lamb led to slaughter and killed. They never taught you verse by verse what scripture says… They skipped Isaiah 53, skipped many Psalms, like Psalm 22 (“my God my God…”). They selected portions that fit their teaching… they taught you the glorious psalms of his great kingship, Psalm 2, 110.
With their wrong, fleshly, carnal, political idea, they didn’t see Elijah spiritually, to restore things spiritually, to revive the decays of religion, to “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,” who will preach a message of repentance. They taught politically, “he will restore the nation… he will bring back political glory… prepare the way of the Messiah as a political ruler… who will make Jews the glory of the earth again…” That is what they taught you.
That is what carnal, unspiritual, perverted, adulterous Israel wanted to hear. Like today, people don’t want to listen to Biblical preaching, right? “What God’s word says… no, no… they want to hear glory, power, anointing, blessing, miracles…” They don’t want expository Bible verse by verse telling who God is… who Jesus is… what he came to do… no, no… they want preachers to pick here and there, picking and hearing what they always want to hear.
“But I ask, how is it written that the Son of Man suffer many things and be utterly rejected? You want to avoid the suffering Messiah by bringing the Bible… You want to bring the Bible to me… I will bring the Bible to you… How is it written the suffering of the Son of Man… Where does the suffering servant fit in your scheme of things?” He questions them, makes them think.
Explanation
After making them think, he gives the explanation of Elijah. Mark 9:13: “But I say to you that Elijah has indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wanted, just as it is written of him.”
“They did as they wanted… but it is all just as it is written of him.” Earlier, verse 12: “Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him.” In two verses, He goes to the scripture… Twice he says “as it is written”… all as scripture has written.
See to Matthew 17:12: “but I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wanted. So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.”
“I say unto you”… as the infallible interpreter of the word of God… “I, God’s final prophet,” with emphasis on I… where the Lord wants to bring his unique position of authority… “I, even I, say unto you…” I who shined with glory, with whom both Moses and Elijah stood, and the glorious cloud came and said, “hear him”… With the peculiar authority of the infallible prophet, Jesus says 4 things, including Mark:
- Firstly, Elijah has come… The scribes were right: Elijah must come before the day of the Lord… Elijah has come… I say that Elijah has come. Perfect tense… he has come at the appointed time… his influences, and effects of that coming abide… He has come already.
- Secondly, Elijah was not recognized in the spiritual blindness… They didn’t recognize him. Talking about John the Baptist. He came to restore things spiritually, to revive the decays of religion, to “turn the hearts of the fathers to the children,” which means the same with this, “he shall restore all things.” John preached repentance, and that restores all things.
- Thirdly, They did to him whatever they wanted… They have acted according to their own horrible sin-loving, depraved, external religious inclinations… they did whatsoever they did.
- Fourthly… Mark passage says it is written… His life and end fulfilled the prophecy written about him. As it was written… where is it written? The history written of Elijah—in terms of life history, was a type and pattern of what would happen with John… what made the mighty prophet of God run away and wished he died… a wicked woman and an unprincipled king… Remember Jezebel who said, “I will get his life by tomorrow,” and Ahab… who wanted to please her in everything. What ended up causing John the Baptist to lose his head… a wicked woman, Herodias, and an unprincipled king, Herod… so that in that history of Elijah there was a preview of the coming Elijah… So they did to him as they wanted as it is all written.
See, he sorts the puzzle for them. They are completely confused… They are scratching their heads… “The Messiah is already here… we have been with him… now Elijah is coming here, mountain after Messiah… scribes point out the Messiah will come only after Elijah… doesn’t make sense… if the Messiah is going to die… yet Elijah has not come… the prophecy is not yet fulfilled…” Confusing… The Lord says, “I sort it out for you…”
The prophecy in Malachi 3 and 4 is fulfilled. Elijah has come. Secondly, when he came, men treated him as they treated all of God’s messengers. His end and suffering is as it was written… he doesn’t stop with that…
Again amazing in Verse 12 end… Matthew. He again talks and brings before them about his suffering… “So also the Son of Man is going to suffer at their hands.” See, again and again brings back his suffering before their face. They cannot avoid it… The Forerunner will be a pattern of how they will treat the Messiah… he will be a forerunner even in the way he dies to the Messiah’s death.
Verse 13: Then the disciples understood that He had spoken to them about John the Baptist. The disciples’ satisfaction in Christ’s reply to their objection (Matthew 17:13): They understood that he spoke unto them of John the Baptist. He did not name John, but gives them such a description of him as would put them in mind of what he had said to them formerly concerning him: “This is Elias.” This is a profitable way of teaching; it engages the learners’ own thoughts, and makes them, if not their own teachers, yet their own remembrancers, and thus knowledge becomes easy to him that understands. When we diligently use the means of knowledge, how strangely are mists scattered and mistakes rectified!
Then they understood. We have sought to understand this mountain side down trekking discussion, and tried to understand what is spoken. 3 things we saw: 1. Strict orders of the Lord to the 3 witnesses. 2. Obedience of the 3 witnesses and confusion. 3. Solution/answer of our Lord to their confusion.
What does this say to us? Their puzzle and how the Lord clarified… What did God intend to say to us today, living in the 20th century, in the various life situations and struggles we have… what is God saying to his church…? the question. They have gathered some courage to go and ask him… to clear their confusion… unbearable for them. It was a question of reconciling the current expectations as explained by the official teachers, the scribes… How is the scribes say… and reconciling that with the events of the transfiguration and the words of Jesus…
It is amazing… what is their confusion… their confusion is “rising from the dead”… what should be the question…? “what does rising from the dead mean…?” that is their discussion… but look at the what question they are asking… it is very confusing…
Verse 10: “And His disciples asked Him, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?”
It shocks us… “Lord, sorry we are dull minds… please help us understand what rising from the dead means clearly…” they didn’t ask that… what they ask is… “how is it the scribes say Elijah must come first?”
And as we’re coming down the mountain, they probably talked about a lot of things, and discussed for a long time within themselves… And now that they’ve seen Elijah on the mountain, it sort of triggers that in their minds.
“How is it that scribes say Elijah must come first?” This is called beating around the bush… not being direct… earlier, trying to stop him from the cross… Peter got a mouthful… so they are a little scared… and even now directly they don’t want to discuss about rising… or the question… because it implies he must die… so let us not directly ask… let us indirectly clarify our doubts… Let us not say what we believe… but let us blame the scribes…
So they start asking about why Scribes say Elijah must come first. The reason is the teaching of the scribes on the Messiah starts with Elijah coming, and then the Messiah coming in glory… so they start with that question… avoiding any even indirect references to the Messiah’s suffering and death… do you see… very interesting…
The current teaching of the scribes is coming from Malachi 3:1: “Behold, I am sending My messenger, and he will clear a way before Me. And the Lord, whom you are seeking, will suddenly come to His temple; and the messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight, behold, He is coming,” says the Lord of armies. Malachi 4:5-6: “Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the Lord. He will turn the hearts of the fathers back to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and strike the land with complete destruction.”
Malachi 3:1: Jehovah says he will not come before the messenger… the Lord himself will not come until the forerunner comes. Malachi 4:1-6: the day is coming… the day consummated in judgment… verse 1, the day marked in blessing and healing… verses 2-3, judgment… Before that, verse 5, I will send Elijah the prophet…
Scribes took these verses and built a teaching, a whole theology, that Elijah will come and precede the advent of the Messiah… Just as they wrongly taught who the Messiah will be, how he will come and what he will do… they have started a fancy teaching of carnal, political, nationalistic dreams and ambitions…
They really embellished it—made (something) more attractive by the addition of decorative details or features… I mean really embellished it. Just like today how preachers instead of teaching God’s word… take God’s word and preach what people love to hear… “My beloved… you are God’s chosen… you maybe today struggling under Rome’s rule like our forefathers in Egypt… my Messiah is coming… who will crush the Roman government… and deliver us from all our poverty, sickness, debt, family problems… you know what is the sign of his coming… See Malachi 3 and 4. Great prophet Elijah, a flaming, fiery, great and terrible reformer will come, he will gather all the people, He will restore all things… He would set everything right so that all the perfection would be set in motion. Then the Messiah will come… so first Elijah must come…” They saw Elijah as the real preparer, the real restorer, and then the Messiah just sort of came to control it.
This was a famous, popular teaching of the scribes. The disciples would be taught and also questioned them on that. “How can this Jesus that you follow be the Messiah when there has yet been no Elijah?” Right? And if there’s not been an Elijah, how can He be the Messiah? Some didn’t see him as the Messiah; remember in chapter 16, when Jesus said to the disciples, “Who do men say that I am,” they answered, “Some say that you are Elijah.” Right? Some thought He could be Elijah getting things ready for the Messiah, but He couldn’t be the Messiah because there hadn’t been an Elijah.
So, they said, “Well, why do the scribes say Elijah has to come first?”
They took the starting point… they had this expectation… Before the Messiah comes, Elijah must come… that is what they learned… Now what made them ask this question… rather than the actual question of “rising from the dead”…?
One, to avoid direct reference to suffering, and secondly, they saw an apparent inversion of the events of God’s prophetic scheme. According to what we have been taught, Elijah must come first, then the Messiah… now 6 days before they confessed he is the Messiah, and they go to the mountain and see Elijah… oh, something is wrong… we were taught from Sunday school… Elijah must come before the Messiah… but now we see Elijah after 2.5 years with Jesus… “how is it the scribes saying Elijah must come?” We know you are the Messiah… but why is Elijah coming so late… our charts are mixed up… Please clarify this…
OR they saw an apparent contradiction in the prophecy of Elijah coming and Jesus’ words about death and resurrection. If the Messiah is here… and he has to die… where is Elijah…? The Messiah says he has to die… where did Elijah fit…? Did God fail to fulfill one of his words…? The puzzle is so confusing… it doesn’t fit…
Applications
If we go to a place and so much enjoy that place, we hate to leave it and stubbornly don’t want to leave. Sometimes we have to drag children from that place. That is how I feel about the transfiguration scene. Like Peter would want to build tents, stay there for longer. I would love to remain in that scene near to Christ in the manifested glory of Christ, with Moses and Elijah talking, and the Father’s Shekinah glory, sitting and watching and learning more lessons and beholding the glory of Christ… with its amazing lessons… and on what the Father and Son had to do for our great redemption… what cost they had to pay to redeem you and me from our depravity and sin… continually meditating and remaining there… don’t want to leave… feel like those children not leaving.
But our Lord has refused to allow building tents and staying there, and brings the disciples down the mountain, so we have to come down from the transfiguration mount. This is because this is not the time of glory. Glory is coming… that time we will climb another mount called Mount Zion… there forever live and behold Christ’s glory for all eternity, never have to climb down that mount, but now… like the Lord and disciples’ case, we must also come down from the mountain because there are immediate duties we need to fulfill before we reach the glory.
So after this transcendent, amazing experience of the transfiguration, it is time to come down now. It is a high mountain, so the decent is a long trekking exercise for the Lord and the three. While coming down, we can imagine the Lord fully encouraged by his Father’s assurance and encouraged, ready to determinately go to Jerusalem and suffer many things and be killed and rise on the 3rd day… assured, bright face coming down. Think of the disciples… what thoughts must be running in their minds… Sadly they also must be bright face with faith and joy, but a puzzled face. They cannot fit together their old understanding and teaching and what they saw now… so puzzled.
1. Positive Examples from the Disciples
Many times the disciples are presented negatively, but here we see two positive examples we should learn.
True Faith Obeys Christ’s Clear Command
First, notice that true faith obeys Christ’s clear command with unquestioned determination even when it doesn’t understand all the reasons for that command.
Our obedience to the clear commands of Christ is to be with unquestioned determination, even when our understanding of those commands is limited. You and I have no right whatsoever to not obey a clear command of God until we understand.
Many of Christ’s commands are addressed to your will, not your perfect understanding of your mind. If we are to be men and women of faith, we must be children of Abraham. When God called him, he went out not knowing where he was going; he did it by faith. When he was called to offer up Isaac, he didn’t know how the promise could be fulfilled—”in Isaac shall thy seed be called.” The scripture says he, though he didn’t understand how God could say this, what his purpose was, or what reason… no, strict and complete obedience. Why? Because he believed, “if God can give life to his son from his dead wife’s womb… if he can give life to a dead womb, he can give life to the dead body… even if I kill him in obedience… I don’t have to know all the reasons he commands… I know he has his reasons… my duty I will obey… His promise… he will keep his promise…” So he raised his knife in unquestioned and strict obedience.
Oh, when will we learn to obey God even though we don’t understand? To make us obey God’s simple commands, we have to give so many reasons… and in spite of reasons, we struggle to obey. True maturity in the Christian life is reached when we stop asking God to explain all reasons to our puny head… and give full reasons for his command before you will obey… before you do him a favor to obey him…
True maturity is: “Lord, I trust you with full heart… command… I obey… You don’t have to give a single reason why I should do that… I am your bondservant… your word is my will.” When will we reach that stage? “If you love me, keep my commandments,” even when you fully don’t understand its wisdom or the goodness that frames them.
Oh, we obey what we think is good… We don’t have any idea of universal obedience… obedience in all aspects of our life.
Only when it looks good…? Do you think God’s command to Abraham looked good when he asked him to sacrifice his only son…? God looked like a cruel deity… sadistic… but he knew he is the sovereign merciful God… in sovereign grace called him… and revealed… “I can trust that God even when he wears an apparent frowning and ugly face…” Oh, may God help us to learn this lesson: to obey God even when we don’t understand the reasons for the command.
Confusion with Respect to Jesus’ Words
The second good example from the disciples: Confusion with respect to the words of Jesus should be dealt with as did these disciples. They were confused about the Jesus’ words… what did they do? “oh, that saying ‘rising from the dead’… makes no sense… I am tired of continuously hearing Jesus saying ‘rising from dead’… I don’t understand… this is beyond me… forget this…”
Are you like this? I believe many of us are like this… you find Bible reading sometimes difficult… You are reading something… you don’t understand… ah… do you try to understand what you are reading? “oh, he will keep talking… just read…” or “who will understand this… so difficult…” Some people read the Bible with the assumption that they cannot understand many things in the Bible what they are reading… are you like that?
We studied recently in the evening class… the clarity of the Bible. We can understand many portions… even difficult ones we can compare and understand… Are you a Bible reader who tries to understand what you read… or just reading…? “Oh, who is going to read all this and understand…”
“I cannot understand this… and okay… just read and go…” You don’t care to understand. This is a dangerous attitude. Many don’t realize it is because of this attitude they are spiritually blind and never progress in spiritual maturity. After years in church, they continue to live in ignorance… ignorance of all these truths. This is the reason for spiritual lostness and blindness… The main reason is their mental laziness.
Lazy disciples… who come to Jesus for forgiveness of sins and peace and heaven… blessings… but live in mental laziness. This leads to all kind of spiritual immaturity and spiritual blindness. They are Christians for 10, 15, 30, 40 years… but still can only feed on the Cerelac, paste, smooth, nice, easy to swallow… you don’t have to bite or chew. Many Christians are like that… they want to hear simple, short, easy understandable sermons… Tell them to read… they want to read a small WhatsApp message. If you make that a short video… they will be happy…
25-year-old Cerelac babies… you have seen… I have seen many of them… mentally spiritual Cerelac babies. Very difficult for their mind to read something, use the mental teeth to chew and digest… They are without any teeth… never use their teeth to chew… “Mummum…” Baby it will look quiet… how ugly… when old, young, strong… lost teeth… not brushed… chewed and made the tooth strong… 25 years… mumumum… eating… Food you give… “oh no… who is going to bite… give me Cerelac…”
It is joking… I am talking about most of you… that is how some of you are… 10, 15, 20 years Christian… We cannot make you read something… meditate or use your mind to think and understand… why? You say “I am like this…” I will tell you… why you are… because you are lazy… don’t realize it is a shame… Worldly: somebody in the office says I am lazy… how we want to prove… no… we are active… not lazy… do so many things… spiritually lazy… “okay…” This is called mental laziness. It is not only shame, it is a sin, and hinders you from growing spiritually… The Word of God rebukes you… God will chastise you for that… If you don’t realize it as sin and laziness, you will never come out of it. In providence, terrible trials will bring you to realize…
Simple: We ask them to read an article… so much we have to ask and remind… so difficult… You want something nice like Cerelac… “oh to read… let someone read and record and send it… I will put my earphone and hear it…” If you cannot read, chew… think… gum… you don’t want it… difficult… “oh no… forget it…” To get your spiritual teeth… use molars, incisors… cut them to pieces… and chew and meditate… you are too lazy… so burdensome.
People, it is not more you read… the website guy pays me a commission/Pastor Bala gives a commission… it is done to develop you… you don’t develop without studying… how much Pastor Bala says… I think he will keep crying out till he goes to heaven… read, read… without reading… you will not think, if you don’t think, you will not live properly… progress in this life and spiritual life… no development… same stage always… 40 years Cerelac babies…
We will never do that… live as lazy disciples… switch on TV… mobile… sit like dumb people… when will we progress… Oh, when will we understand… mature… the horrible danger of spiritual mental laziness… is spiritual instability…
You see some brothers… just 2 or 3 years… some new people I am planning to take in the membership class… growing so much… some of them soon able to preach… But some of us… years, years, years… still the same stage… what is the difference… One main difference: spiritual laziness… people read and are able to think… others never… “no, so difficult… we will only come and listen…”
Learn from these disciples… what did they do when they didn’t understand “rising from dead”? “oh, leave it… it is too difficult… who will try to understand all this… compare verses… let us close the Bible and go and watch some YouTube videos… we can understand this…” this is the life pattern… See what they did… First they didn’t understand… Mark 9:10: “They seized upon that statement, discussing with one another what rising from the dead meant.” They discussed with others…
Do we do that? “Brother, I have been reading about this… trying to understand… Have you read that? Do you understand this? Can we discuss this?” What a precious thing it is when we are all thinking and spiritually alert people… reading and thinking higher thoughts… filled with biblical thoughts… In any informal situation… we meet, they are discussing about some passage spontaneously… Helping each other understand… to understand more of God’s word… Is that is the way…? No, all worldly thoughts… lower thoughts… “how is that and how is this…” Unnecessary jokes… talks… The Bible says as children of God our communication should be good to the use of edifying… building each other… so the word of Christ richly dwells in us… we need to keep talking about God’s word… that is a sign of being filled with the Holy Spirit.
I am saddened… many a times we get together, very less of such discussion among us… because we don’t read the Bible so as to understand… if we do that… every verse we read… we need to understand… how much we will discuss these things… As Pastors we have sometimes such fellowship… so joyful… “how can we understand that and this…”
This record is recorded in eternal word because their discussion was edifying… how many of our discussions of going home… or coming to church… or meeting as disciples informally will be recorded… if recorded… how useless our conversation would be…
Oh, learn from the disciples… they first discussed among themselves… and then the best thing they did… they went to Jesus… “Lord, you help us understand this truth… we can put the pieces together…”
People of God, the Bible is not open to the brilliant and intellectual, educated… but is open to the humble and eager mind… cries with David… “open my eyes that I may see wondrous things in thy law…” The Bible is a dark and hard book to the spiritually lazy and sometimes completely fully closed for the lazy.
When we are puzzled with scripture difficulties, we must apply ourselves to Christ by prayer for his Spirit to open our understandings and to lead us into all truth.
See here Jesus himself drew near and explained the scriptures. Oh, when he explains the scriptures… our hearts would burn within us when he speaks to us… like the Emmaus disciples… If we would have a burning heart understanding of the Bible, we should learn from Jesus… seeking the Holy Spirit’s help in prayerful dependence and reflective meditation… like Proverbs 2… “search for it like hidden treasure…” thirst after it… seek it… No commentary would give that kind of understanding where our hearts would burn… We learn it by personal devotions, praying, asking Christ to explain… believe me, 15 years of preaching… when we go to Him… he always explains that and gives so much clarity… I have learned more clarity in prayer than in any books I read… Sometimes… amazing… none of the commentaries authors would be clear on that point… but prayerful meditation… makes it so clear…
It is dynamic… we all should daily experience… go to Christ… See we will do that… only when we read the Bible to understand, right? Only when we try to understand… and don’t understand… and desire deeply to understand… we will pray for that… otherwise… we least care… “Lord bless family… bless job… over…”
The disciples are a good example… this is the attitude that made them grow in the truth, became apostles, and standards of truth who wrote the New Testament, and become world changers. God may use us mightily only when we regularly grow and mature in spiritual life… by reading and understanding… never living like spiritual Cerelac babies. May God help us learn this lesson.
2. Three Precious Lessons from the Lord
1. Christ’s View of Scripture
God’s purpose and plan for us is we should be conformed to the image of his son… that means more and more we should be like Christ and think like Christ thinks… Our views about God, the world, and life… and about how we look at scripture… all should be like Christ. Here, learn that our view of scripture must be Christ’s view of scripture. This beautifully explains the last paragraph of the 10th [referring to the Westminster Confession of Faith]: The supreme judge, by which all controversies of religion are to be determined, and all decrees of councils, opinions of ancient writers, doctrines of men, and private spirits, are to be examined, and in whose sentence we are to rest, can be no other but the Holy Scripture delivered by the Spirit, into which Scripture so delivered, our faith is finally resolved.
We see the Lord beautifully illustrating that… Twice in the Mark passage (9:12, 13)… when explaining Elijah… the important phrase is “it has been written”… “how it is written of the Son of Man…” what is written is what must be… In the whole response of the Lord, we don’t see he allows any notion that any passage of scripture will fail its fulfillment… the whole passage breathes of our Lord’s view of scripture… which is what? John 10:35: “the scriptures cannot be broken.” It must be fulfilled.
Lord Jesus held to the highest view of the Old Testament scriptures… to say “it is written” is the supreme authority… the end of discussion for our Lord… In regulating his personal life, his secret time in the midst of temptation… when Satan tempts… what is his authority? “It is written.” On his mission… of his life… in setting the perspectives of his career… he uses this terminology wherever our Lord turned in whatever relationship… “it is written.”
Scripture dominated… regulated, pressured and determined… every impulse of his heart, mind, will, his hands and feet was guided by scriptures…
We are more and more like Christ in direct proportion to our view of the scriptures like him and our belief and obedience to the scriptures like him. Not just holding in our minds a doctrinal similarity… we believe the 1st chapter of the 1689 [London Baptist Confession of Faith]… a high biblical view of plenary verbal inerrancy, scripture’s sufficiency, the authority of scriptures, but living as though we really believed that… and the Bible is our constant guide, friend, time pass, night and day… read and think… though men may think we are Bible fanatics… How many times in a day we say “it is written”…? How many times in our week our life is regulated by “it is written”…?
Would you be like Christ… then you must be near the Bible and your Bible must be very dear to you…
To speak of not being like Christ if there is a distance between you and your Bible… it is a lie…
2. The Infallible Rule of Interpretation
Paragraph 9: The infallible rule of interpretation of Scripture is the Scripture itself; and therefore when there is a question about the true and full sense of any Scripture (which is not manifold, but one), it must be searched by other places that speak more clearly. The Bible is its own interpreter… The Lord wonderfully demonstrates it here…
Our principles of interpreting scripture must be Christ’s principles. See how horrible things happen if we fail to do that. Not only must our view of Scripture be Christ’s view, but our principles of interpreting scripture must be Christ’s. Where do we get that in the passage?
You see the scribes had taken Malachi, said Elijah must come… They interpreted literally and said that the hairy prophet who lived in Jezebel’s time will come… “we expect nothing else than Elijah to come back same as he went to heaven…” That was their explanation… but it was not Jesus’ interpretation.
He said “Elijah has come…” He didn’t say one who was a symbol, type, preliminary/partial fulfillment of the prophecy of Malachi. How many dispensationalists say that, you know… The Lord says… no, Elijah has come. This was not written by amill reformed guys against anti-dispensational guys… Lord Jesus said… Elijah has already come.
It was because of these scribes and Jews were stuck to their literal, carnal, political, foolish interpretation they didn’t recognize John… just as they didn’t recognize Jesus. Matthew 11:16-18: “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces, who call out to the other children, and say, ‘We played the flute for you, and you did not dance; we sang a song of mourning, and you did not mourn.’ For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon!’”
So when John came… “he is crazy… he is eating locust and wild honey… dresses in funny garment…” They made fun of him… Matthew 11:19: “The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Behold, a gluttonous man and a heavy drinker, a friend of tax collectors and sinners!’ And yet wisdom is vindicated by her deeds.”
“John is not Elijah… he is not the Messiah…” they rejected both. The reason they did was they were locked into a view of literal interpreting of scripture. That view that wouldn’t let them see when Elijah and the Messiah were in front of their eyes. See the great monumental importance of understanding and interpreting scriptures… Our principles of interpreting scripture must be Christ’s principles. See how horrible things happen if we fail to do that. What a horrible crime they did in their wrong understanding of the scriptures… if they had understood the scriptures properly… they wouldn’t have committed such a crime… they cut Elijah’s head and crucified the Lord of glory, the Messiah for whom they were waiting… because they wrongly interpreted scripture… doesn’t this help us see how greatly important to understand and interpret scriptures properly…?
They ridiculed John, persecuted him, and at last put him to death which was Herod’s doing, but is here charged upon the whole generation of unbelieving Jews, and particularly the scribes, who, though they could not prosecute John themselves, were pleased with what Herod did.
God’s promises are often fulfilled, and men perceive it not, but enquire, “Where is the promise?” when it is already performed. “Elias is come, and they knew him not”; they knew him not to be the Elias promised.
They had a framework of political expectation… like today they have an idea of Christ’s second coming… those scribes forced that into the scriptures…
Oh, don’t come to the Bible to force your framework upon the Bible… you get your principles of interpreting the Bible from the Bible… The Malachi prophecy is fulfilled… he didn’t mean the real, actual Elijah. He was speaking of one who would come in the same manner as Elijah, with the same style as Elijah, in the same mode of operation as Elijah, one like Elijah. An Elijah-like man will come. And, of course, the problem with the Jews was, they were looking for the literal Elijah.
Isn’t this the great problem of today’s Bible interpretation… how many millions are deceived with the literal interpretation of the Bible where it shouldn’t be…? Oh, how stupid today people can be… oh, we take all the Old Testament scriptures literally… not comparing… leaving the context… literary style… and giving a literal interpretation… Jesus Christ will come again… there is a secret coming… for what? for the church. And then coming before 1000 years… for what? for the Jews… Before he comes… we will see Elijah truly resurrecting, coming before Jesus comes… That same Elijah will come… and restore all things… Jesus will come… He will reign on this earth 1000 years… he will again build the temple… he will again make sacrifices which types he already fulfilled… oh, how stupid that can be…
There is no basis for such interpretation… Get principles for interpreting scripture from the scripture… “Jesus destroy this temple I will raise it in 3 days…” what did he mean? He will tear Herod’s temple which took 38 years to build… and he will build miraculously in 3 days… That is crazy… Jews took it literally and accused him… The Scriptures interpret that he spoke concerning the temple of his body… not the temple. He used figurative language.
God speaks of coming epochs of redemption under figures and images… using Old Testament personalities, events, types, history, and numbers that would graphically set forth spiritual truths… that is the book of Revelation… how stupid… taking the apocalyptic book… symbolic book and instead of interpreting Bible with Bible… all these dispensational people taking literally and giving every meaning… waiting for the temple to be built… Jews to be saved… sacrificial system set up… beast of the mark… 1000 years…
He says before the day of the Lord, Elijah will come… a man like Elijah who will seek to call the covenant people back to covenant responsibilities… that is exactly John did… he shall go before the Lord in the power of Elijah, turning the hearts of children to Fathers… He calls the nation to repentance… He was Elijah… see the principle…
Scripture is true, yet it must be properly interpreted rather than just popularly understood.
3. The Cross is Central
Finally, the apex… Until we see the death of Christ central to the voice of scripture… Nothing will be clear in the Bible… You know why these people go so wrong… they don’t give the central place to the cross of Christ. They see it as a first advent accident, Israel’s temporary rejection… but the second advent… all that will be corrected, and the kingdom will be sent… they see it as God’s alternate plan…
See all the confusion of the disciples had one clear common root… They couldn’t understand the rejected, humiliated, suffering Messiah… They couldn’t get that in their spiritual system… Because it got stuck… because it was unclear… everything else was confusing to them… They had a horrible case of spiritual indigestion… Because they failed to grasp the central truth, you see them completely confused… wrong priorities… living with spiritual indigestion… You see that throughout… Jesus is struggling and preparing to go to the cross… their concern is who is going to be #1 in the kingdom… PM, CM… it is a mess.
Great lessons of humility, forbearance, servanthood… they were blind on many things… because the central truth had not yet been clear to them… on that side of the cross… they really struggled to grasp… Before the cross… they were completely clueless… here they see his inherent glory… heard Moses and Elijah… heard the voice of the cloud… he said, “keep your mouths shut,” because the heart of my mission… is not my glowing face… not heavenly friends… the heart of my mission is rejection, suffering, blood letting to satisfy the wrath of God.
My glowing face gives worth to my work… it thrills a soul to know that the one who is God the Son should die… so much rejected… die under the wrath of God…
They shouldn’t speak of the glory until they rightly understand the heart of his mission, the cross… until they understand the cross… they will not properly understand the glory…
Do you see how much glory is there in the cross? Christ’s glory is not to be proclaimed apart from the cross. There can be no glory apart from the cross. And so Jesus says to the disciples, ‘Don’t you talk about this until the resurrection is done. Then, you can weave together the proclamation of both the cross of Christ and the glory of Christ.’
It gives worth to the glory of the Cross… that the one who died on that cross for you and me… is indeed the Son of God…
But let the publication of it be adjourned till after his resurrection, and then that and his subsequent glory will be a great confirmation of it. Note, Christ observed a method in the manifestation of himself; he would have his works put together, mutually to explain and illustrate each other, that they might appear in their full strength and convincing evidence. Everything is beautiful in its season. Christ’s resurrection was properly the beginning of the gospel state and kingdom, to which all before was but preparatory and by way of preface, and therefore, though this was transacted before, it must not be produced as evidence till then (and then it appears to have been much insisted on by 2 Peter 1:16-18), when the religion it was designed for the confirmation of was brought to its full consistence and maturity. Christ’s time is the best and fittest for the manifesting of himself and must be attended to by us.
That is the principle… Until you see the death of Christ central to the voice of scripture… nothing else will be clear…
Is the voice of the cross… the central voice that comes to you in terms of your dealing with the Bible?
In all your understanding of what you think to be Biblical religion… Does it make you realize, hauntingly, that “I am a sinner, lost, doomed, damned, forever… Christ came to die for me…” that is the central truth… when you see from that angle… the Bible becomes… as a saved sinner… that “I am a sinner pardoned, washed, accepted, and received as a son, because Jesus died…”
Is that the center of your religion extracted from the Bible… if it is not… hear me… you do not understand the Bible… your religion is superficial…
There are some who see in the Bible… social justice… work… racial equality… moral lessons… how to live righteously… It is not other than… God loved sinners and sent his son to die for sinners… all those who believe in him… will be saved… and those who love… will be caring for society…
Christ crucified is the central message…
We should glory only in the cross… many are there today who don’t glory in the cross… the cross is overshadowed by the crown… they want him crowned.
The center of the Bible message is not the crown… but the cross. He is a Savior who saved not by his crown, but his cross.
Paul… “I came to give testimony of God… what is that testimony… I determined to know nothing but Jesus and him crucified…“
The center of the Bible… The day that ceases from our experience… we have moved from our Bible… though some of you say you are Christian… your religion is empty… lacking in reality… you never stood helpless, naked, a sinner looking up and finding mercy and forgiveness through a crucified savior… that is the central message of the passage.
Thank God one day these disciples understood… I wonder how ashamed they must have felt when they looked back… how thick-skinned they were to understand this message… I am sure… they would have shed many tears… “how can we be so stupid… he repeatedly said he will die… but we never got it…”
If you are sitting here… know the Bible… know the central message is you are such a horrible sinner… the Son of God had to die such a death for you… Run to Jesus.
Grace Reformed Baptist Church, Bangalore 