J. Alec Motyer
Readings: Exodus 34:29-35; Luke 9:28-36
IN a certain sense we enjoy a privilege which the Lord Jesus never had. We have our own copy of the Bible -- often a prized one -- whereas the Word of God was not printed in pocket form in His day, but was much too bulky and too expensive for most people. On the other hand, in the mystery of God becoming Man, He grew in wisdom (Luke 2:52) and knew the Word of God with such accuracy and aptitude that as a child of twelve He surprised learned professors by His understanding and His answers. How magnificent was His knowledge of the Bible! He had a reply for every temptation drawn out of the Word of God. He took care to honour the Word of God when men came to Him with their questions. "What is written in the law? How readest thou?" He asked a lawyer, so displaying His confidence that it was all there in the Scriptures. When He spoke of always doing the things that pleased the Father, He was not mainly speaking of any intuition as to the will of God but of the will of God as stated in the written Scriptures of which the Lord Jesus was Master. Oh, if we would be like Jesus, let us covet to be like Him in our knowledge of the Word of God!!
The knowledge which the Lord Jesus had of the Word of God not only allowed Him to quote the Scriptures but enabled Him to use them in a special way. There were times when He reached back into the past, into Scriptural events which had happened earlier, and then reproduced those events in His own experience so that the Old Testament acted as a commentary upon Himself. It was this that He was doing when He took His three disciples up into the mountain for what we call His transfiguration. It would seem that He deliberately reached back into the past and plucked events out of the earlier Scriptures so that we might learn more of Himself.
IN the first of our two passages we read that when Moses came down from Mount Sinai "he did not know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him" (Exodus 34:29). Bible translators try to help us by sorting that one out and some say that Moses' shining face was by reason of the Lord speaking with him and others that it was by reason of his speaking with the Lord. The Hebrew simply says, as we have read, "by reason of his speaking with him". Who was speaking with whom? I don't know; you don't know; nobody knows! Usually when a Scripture has two possible meanings, I like to suggest that we take them both. What we do know is that as the result of that mountain-top fellowship, something of the divine glory was imparted to Moses so that the skin of his face shone.
Jesus went up to enjoy mountain-top fellowship with the Father and while He was praying, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment became white and dazzling. The glory that Moses had was on the skin of his face; it was imposed from the outside. It was a glory that rubbed off from God and rubbed on to Moses. The glory of Moses was partial; it touched his face only. The glory of Moses could be hidden; he wore a veil upon his face because the people were understandably scared by this sight of glory. The glory of Jesus, however, was the glory of His whole person; the glory of Jesus could not be hidden so that even His clothes became white and glistening. Out from His whole person there shone a radiance which penetrated even the opaque veil of His clothing. The lesson is plain and thrilling. It is that the glory of Jesus transcends any glory that preceded it. Here on earth those three disciples had an inkling of the surpassing glory of Jesus which fills the heavens.
The passage in the Gospel tells us that "Jesus took with him Peter and John and James" (Luke 9:28), while in the Old Testament we read: "Then went up Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and they saw the God of Israel" (Exodus 24:9). Jesus went up with three named individuals; Moses went up with three named individuals; and they saw the God of Israel. As they went up that mountain did Christ's three disciples remember the incident in history and did their knowledge of the Bible prompt them to realise that Jesus was taking them up into the place of revelation? They knew that both Moses and [31/32] Elijah in their day had gone to the mountain top and held communion with God, so did their glimpse of the two heavenly visitors heighten their expectancy that they too were to have this supreme privilege?
We do not know. Surely, however, the divine record has been assembled in this way so that we might appreciate the facts. Certainly when the three went with Jesus to the top of the mountain and saw the cloud approaching, they knew very well what that meant. The cloud was the presence of God Himself. On Mount Sinai the cloud came down because God was there, and Moses is said to have gone into the cloud where God was. No wonder that these three were afraid then, for they were being introduced into the very presence of God. When the cloud lifted, though, they saw no man but Jesus only. In other words they did see the God of Israel, for the glory of Jesus is the glory of God.
IN another Old Testament passage there are again three men whom God met in the cloud of His glory: "Moses and Aaron among his priests, Samuel among them that call upon his name. They called upon the Lord and he answered them. He spoke to them in the pillar of cloud. They kept his testimonies and the statutes that he gave them" (Psalm 99:6-7). The psalm tells us that "He used to speak to them in the pillar of cloud; they kept his testimonies ...". What wonderful days they must have been when God's people walked with Him in those wilderness ways, accompanied by the towering pillar of cloud! When the blackness of the desert night fell, they were able to appreciate better that the cloud was just a gracious veil thrown around them by the glorious presence of God in light and fire. God was there! The whole camp of Israel was lit up with the radiance of a God who had come down to dwell with His people. He was not there just as an ornament, and not only as a protection, but He was there to reveal Himself, to speak His word and to be obeyed. Moses an Aaron were the greatest men of their day, but when God used to speak to them, they kept His statutes. Great as they were, they were under the Word of God. They had to obey what was said.
When the cloud came on the mount of transfiguration, God was again present in the midst of His people and again He spoke from the glory. This time, though, the Voice from the cloud said: "This is my beloved Son, hear him". The Lord Jesus is not under the Word of God: He IS the Word of God and the One who must be obeyed. He is the One of greater glory, divine glory, and He is the supreme authority. And every part of that divine acknowledgement of the Son reaches back into the past.
"This is my Son" -- that points back to the promise inherent in the line of David, that a king would be born who would be the Son of the Most High God: "You are my Son, this day have I begotten you" (Psalm 2:7). "This is my chosen" -- that goes back to the Servant of the Lord prophecies in Isaiah chapters 42 and 53. The Servant was the One who would bear His people's sins and perform the work of atonement, so in this way the Father nominates Him as the promised priest who would be responsible for the atoning work of redemption. "Hear ye him " -- that looks back to the prediction given by Moses that the Lord would raise up a prophet like unto him. "Him shall ye hear", he said, "in all things that he will declare unto you" (Deuteronomy 18:18). The mountain-top utterance, then, declares the Lord Jesus to be the King, the Priest and the Prophet of the people of God.
IT is striking to look back into Luke 9 and discover there that the question keeps arising as to the identity of Jesus. That wicked man, Herod, said: "John I beheaded, but who is this?" (v.9). When Jesus had been praying and the disciples were with Him, He asked them: "Who do the multitudes say that I am?" (v.18), and later on He asked them directly: "Who do you say that I am?" (v.20). Who? Who? Who? Who is this Jesus? Who is He to you? Is He to you the One of greater glory than any who have ever preceded Him? Is He to you the One of the very divine glory, God Himself? Is He to you the One who exercises authority through His word, the One to be heard and obeyed? Is He your Prophet, Priest and King? Who is He to you?
And never let us think that this is an unpractical exercise in Bible study and nothing more. The transfiguration of the Lord Jesus comes to us with a date, and the date is "about eight days after these things" (v.28). He had already spoken before He unveiled His glory. And what did He say? He called the Twelve together and, sending them out on a mission, He said: "As many as receive you not ..." (v.5). Your [32/33] mission will not be a push-over. You will find that often you will not be received; there is discouragement ahead. In the midst of a hungry crowd, Jesus said to His disciples: "Give ye them to eat" (v.13). They had to face clamant demands which completely outran their resources. After Peter's confession that He was the Christ of God, the Lord seriously charged and commanded them to tell this to no-one, saying that "the Son of Man must suffer and be rejected and be killed" (vv.20-21). He then added His solemn words: "If any man would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross" (v.23), going on further to warn them that "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed" (v.26). It was eight days after these sayings that He showed them His glory.
He warned His disciples that they would suffer discouragement, face demands which outran their resources, endure many disappointments and shocks, have to face the costliness of discipleship and be ready for the challenge of His Coming again as Lord, and then He seemed to say to them: 'For all this you will need to know who I am. You need to see My glory. That vision and knowledge can alone suffice to carry you triumphantly through'.
If we do not see the glory of Jesus, how can we live for Jesus? The two go together. It is of supreme importance to have a spiritual revelation of Him. Inner renewal always comes by a fresh awareness of the great glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. In all life's setbacks, He is King. In all life's failures, He is the Saviour Priest. In all life's demands, He is our mighty Prophet. At every moment we must hear the Father's voice from the glory: "This is my Son, my chosen; hear ye him!"
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