WWUTT 2042 Elijah and Moses Appear with Jesus (Matthew 17:3-8)

Jesus was transfigured before his disciples, Peter, James, and John, and even Moses and Elijah were standing there with him. What really was the significance of this event when we understand the text?

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.

The Transfiguration in Matthew 17 and Its Place in the Gospel

Thank you, Becky. In our study of the gospel of Matthew, we're looking this week at the transfiguration of Jesus. And we wanna come back to that passage again in Matthew 17, verses one through 13, which I'm reading from the Legacy Standard Bible.

Hear the word of the Lord. And six days later, Jesus brought with him Peter and James and John, his brother, and led them up on a high mountain by themselves. And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his garments became as white as light.

And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him. And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you wish, I will make three booths, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.

While he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them, and behold, a voice out of the cloud said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. And when the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified.

And Jesus came to them and touched them and said, get up, do not be afraid. And lifting up their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them saying, tell the vision to no one until the son of man is risen from the dead.

And his disciples asked him saying, why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first? And he answered and said, Elijah is coming and will restore all things. But I say to you that Elijah already came, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished.

So also the son of man is going to suffer at their hands. Then the disciples understood that he had spoken to them about John the Baptist. So as we're looking at this incredible event here, yesterday we considered the transfiguration in context, looking mainly at those passages that came before, the things that Jesus was talking with his disciples about in chapter 16.

If you didn't catch yesterday's message, I would invite you to go back and listen to that one first. I posted it a little bit late because once I got into this, I decided, you know what, I wanna do a little bit more prep in this.

We're gonna spend the three days of this week just looking at the transfiguration. So yesterday was looking at it in context with the things that we heard previously in chapter 16. Today we wanna look at the event itself.

What is the significance of this? What actually is happening in what Matthew is retelling for us here? And then tomorrow we're gonna look at those things that Jesus said to his disciples after the transfiguration.

So these verses one through 13 is where we are. Let's look again at the event itself. Jesus is alone on the mountain with Peter, James, and John. He takes just three of them with him. And like I said yesterday, when we read in chapter 16, verse 28, truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the son of man coming in his kingdom.

That was not necessarily referring to the transfiguration. It is in part, but not entirely. There are many teachers and many teachers I respect that will say that what Jesus said there was fulfilled in the very next account with the transfiguration.

I think the transfiguration is part of it. You see the son of man, you're gonna see him there, absolutely. But the coming of his kingdom is something that's gonna happen more later on with the disciples witnessing even the resurrection of Christ, his ascension into heaven, the coming of the Holy Spirit, people that come to faith in the Lord Christ, and then the kingdom of God is grown through belief in the gospel.

These things are going to be the presentation of the advancement of the kingdom of Christ. And you see Jesus coming in his kingdom through these things. So it's really a broader event, not just the fact that Peter, James, and John witnessed the transfiguration of Christ, although that's certainly part of it.

It's kind of the beginning of that response that Jesus gave to his disciples in Matthew 16, 28. They got to see the glory of Christ unveiled before their eyes because Jesus had just been talking with them about how he was going to suffer and die, but to give them hope so that they would recognize that Jesus is indeed this Messiah.

He's going to die, but do not lose heart. Remember what it was that you saw on the mountain. He takes Peter, James, and John up with him, and he's transfigured before them so that even Elijah and Moses are standing there with Jesus talking.

What was that about? What would they have even been talking about? Well, we're going to get to that as we continue on in this incredible event. So Jesus is transfigured. What does this mean that he is transfigured?

That's an interesting word as well. In Greek, the word is metamorphou. Now, you probably recognize that word. That sounds a lot like metamorphosis in English, right? Well, it means to transform. It means to be transfigured, very literally, but as we read it here, he was transfigured.

It's three words in English, but it's just one word in the Greek, metamorphou. He was metamorphou before them or just metamorphou before them. And his face shone like the sun and his garments became as white as light, very similar to the vision that John sees in Revelation 1 when he sees the glorified Christ.

So what Peter, James, and John are able to witness here is Christ unveiled. Jesus is the fullness of God dwelt bodily. Colossians 1 describes him that way. The fullness of God was pleased to dwell in him bodily.

So what the three disciples witness is really that the veil of Jesus' flesh is taken away. It's not like the flesh peels off of him or whatever, but it's as though they see him without the veil of his flesh, that he is indeed the son of God in his glory, the fullness of God dwelling within him.

So they're able to see him as he is, as the second person of the Trinity, standing right there with them with shining face and even his garments becoming as white as light. So again, it's not like the flesh and the garments peel away, they're still there, but the glory of God shining through him made him so incredible that they could hardly look at him.

And this would not have been the fullness of the glory of God, clearly not, because they wouldn't have been able to survive that. Even when Moses had asked God, can I see your face? God told him, you're asking for the impossible, for no one can see my face and live, but I will pass by you.

And so in Exodus 34, he puts Moses in the cleft of a rock and puts his hand over the cleft. As he passes by him, it says in Exodus 34, five, Yahweh descended in the cloud and stood there with him and called upon the name of Yahweh.

So Yahweh calls upon Yahweh. You have even a Trinitarian depiction there with God accompanying Moses as Moses had requested. But God told Moses that you can't see my face. So he looks at him from behind.

And even here, as Jesus is transfigured before the disciples, it's not the fullness of his glory because the disciples would not have been able to stand it. And even as we see it, they're able to look at him until they hear the voice of the father and then they can't handle it anymore and they fall on their faces in fear.

So Jesus is even showing them a little bit of his glory, not even the fullness of his glory. Isaiah saw a little bit of his glory and said, I am undone because I am a man of unclean lips dwelling in a land of people of unclean lips.

And then as you read about it in Isaiah six, an angel takes a coal from the altar, touches Isaiah's lips with it, and then he's purified that he may stand before God and speak with him. But even there, Isaiah does not see the fullness of God's glory.

No one is able to see that and live. Jesus, by his power, is able to show him a bit of himself so that the disciples will see this is the glorious Messiah that we have been waiting for. He was just talking with us about going and dying and being put to death.

And we see Jesus mentioned that again, even at the end of the transfiguration. But he shows his glory to them so that they would hope that they would not fear, that they would see and know this is the one.

John the Baptist had asked, are you the one or are we waiting for another? Jesus is showing his disciples, I am he, the one who was prophesied, about the one who is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets.

And even showing that he is the fulfillment of the law and the prophets by visiting with the two men that represent the law and the prophets. Moses representing the law, Elijah representing the prophets.

Moses and Elijah as Witnesses to the Law and the Prophets

And so we continue on in verse three, behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him. Now, what in the world do they have to talk about? Well, first of all, before we get to that, how did Peter, James and John even know that this was Moses and Elijah?

The text doesn't tell us that. It wasn't like they had Facebook. It wasn't like there were paintings of Moses and Elijah around so that the Jews would even know that this is what those prophets look like when they were alive here on the earth.

There's nothing in the scripture that tells us that. It had to have been that Jesus told them who they were. The narrative doesn't give us that. We don't hear dialogue of Jesus introducing them to Peter, James and John.

Hey, I wanna introduce you to my friends. This is Moses and this is Elijah. Or if somehow just standing there in the glory of God with Moses and Elijah appearing with him, somehow in that glorious moment, Peter and James and John just knew.

They just knew that this was Moses and Elijah. That's speculative. I don't know that for sure, but you just have to wonder. If in the gloriousness of that moment, there's some sort of knowledge that's even transferred to them that they would know, they're seeing Jesus in his glory.

They're seeing these two men standing with him and they just know that's gotta be Moses and that's gotta be Elijah. And they're talking with one another, it says. Moses and Elijah appeared to them talking with him.

So it could be that the disciples are just standing there overhearing what they're talking about. And then they know, they just figure it out. Oh my goodness, that's Moses. And that one's Elijah. What did they talk about?

What would Jesus be talking about with these men? Likely in Hebrew, so that the disciples could even understand them. But here, Moses and Elijah are appearing from their place that they had in glory with God, or in Abraham's bosom, you might consider it that way.

They're in paradise, but here they come from paradise to stand with Jesus on this mountain and have a conversation with him. What are they talking about? Well, they already knew Jesus, had already had conversations with him.

Moses had a conversation with him, of course, during the time of his prophecy. So did Elijah, 1 Kings 19, where Yahweh passes before Elijah, just like Yahweh had passed before Moses in Exodus 34. So he does with Elijah in 1 Kings 19.

So Elijah had this kind of relationship with God even during his prophetic ministry. But then beyond that, when they put off this mortal coil, they leave this earth and they go be with God forever in glory, they converse with Jesus even in the heavenlies.

What was it that they were discussing here in this moment when they stand on the earth, on this mountain with Jesus and have a conversation before Peter, James, and John? Well, Luke 9 gives us an indication of what it was that they talked about.

So in Luke's account of the transfiguration, it says in verse 30, this is Luke 9 30. And behold, two men were talking with him and they were Moses and Elijah, who appearing in glory were speaking of his departure, which he was about to fulfill at Jerusalem.

So Moses and Elijah show up and they just start talking about what Jesus is about to go to Jerusalem and do. By the way, that's where they're going. They're on their way to Jerusalem and have just stopped along the way to go up on the mountain and for Jesus to demonstrate this before these three disciples.

But this was the conversation that they were having. Matthew's account seems to indicate that Peter interrupts this conversation. So as Elijah and Moses are talking with Jesus about what he is going to go and do and fulfill, Peter answered and said to Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here.

If you wish, I will make three booths here, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah. Now, what does Peter mean by that? Well, he's basically suggesting, why don't we have a festival? Why don't we celebrate this with the Feast of Booths?

The Feast of Booths or also called the Feast of Tabernacles was the last, the seventh of the festivals that God had commanded Israel to observe. The first one is Passover. So we don't know if this was the, maybe this was the time of the year, the Feast of Booths.

And so that's why Peter suggested it. Most likely though, it's because Jesus is talking with Moses and Elijah. And because of Moses being present there, Peter's suggesting, let's have some tabernacles.

Let's build a place right here where we can just camp out and worship you in your glory. Maybe that's what Peter's suggesting. Because we know that Peter has the Sunday school answers where he will come up with the best answer to try to please his Lord.

Hence him being the one when Jesus says, who do you say that I am? Who answers you are the Christ, the son of the living God. We see those kinds of answers a lot from Peter. So maybe he's just overzealously trying to say, well, let's set up some tents and we'll just be right here.

And we'll observe and worship in your glory. But because Peter had interrupted this exchange, he's talking about this. He's saying, let's make booths here. And it says in verse five, while he was still speaking, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them.

And behold, a voice out of the cloud said, this is my beloved son with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him. So it's while Peter is speaking that this happens then, this cloud descends, the voice of the father is heard from the cloud saying something very similar to what he said when Jesus was baptized at his baptism with John the Baptist.

We know that the spirit of God descended upon him like a dove and the voice of the father was heard from heaven saying, this is my beloved son in whom I am well pleased. On this particular occasion, Jesus had interrupted, or I'm sorry, Peter had interrupted Jesus and Moses and Elijah and the father interrupts Peter.

So this cloud descends and the father says, this is my beloved son, listen to him. It's almost like the voice of the father is going, Peter, stop talking. Listen to Jesus. Listen to what is being talked about between Jesus and Moses and Elijah.

Because these two men are testifying with Jesus to what is about to happen. And Peter just missed it. He missed what they were talking about. Again, Luke nine captures it for us that they were talking about what he was going to fulfill at Jerusalem and this in fulfillment of the law and the prophets.

Back to Matthew 5 .17, do not think that I have come to abolish the law. I have not come to abolish, but to fulfill it. And that again, being testified to at the evidence of two or three witnesses with Elijah and Moses standing right there and talking about these things with Jesus, all of this to confirm to the disciples who Jesus is and what he's about to do.

And Peter's not even listening to it. So that the father in heaven has to say, listen. And then in verse six, when the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and they were terrified. And that's exactly the kind of response that we see throughout the scriptures, old Testament and new.

Whenever one beholds and sees the glory of God, they fall down on their faces terrified. And you'll notice that many of the charismatics today will talk about being in God's presence and not having anything like the reaction that the disciples had when they were in the presence, when they beheld the glory of God, especially hearing the voice of the father.

So they fall down terrified. And again, same as John's reaction in Revelation 1. John sees this twice. He recognizes Jesus' glory here in Matthew 17. And then he gets to see it again in the vision that's given to him on the Isle of Patmos, which of course begins the book of Revelation.

So once they fall down in fear, Jesus came to them and touched them and said, get up, do not be afraid. And lifting their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone. See, I wonder when I read stuff like this, I wonder what this was like to all of the human senses, not just what they saw, but what they heard.

What did it smell like up there? To see Jesus transfigured on the Mount of Transfiguration. Surely something else had taken place that was appealing to all of the senses. Was there something, a kind of aroma to it?

What did it sound like? Because it appears as if there really wasn't much sound. We might think of this, if it's a movie scene and Jesus is transfigured and he's white as light before them that there's like that shimmering sound and there's kind of that low hum.

And maybe there might be some sort of angelic, sort of aura from heaven that has a certain sound to it. That might be what we would envision or what we would imagine about this whole thing, but it's just light.

Light doesn't make a sound. So when Jesus is transfigured before them in this way, there is no sound. And then Moses and Elijah are there and they're just having a conversation. And so that even when everything goes back to the way that it was, and Jesus is again veiled before them, they don't know that anything has happened until Jesus comes and touches them.

Because it's not like the sound of the transfiguration went away. There wouldn't be any reason for there to be a sound. It just goes back to how it was. Moses and Elijah returned to their place in paradise.

Jesus is again veiled and he looks as he did before. And he comes and touches his disciples. And he says, get up and do not be afraid. And lifting their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

But the significance of this event is to show that Jesus is the Messiah. He is the one that was promised through the prophets. Even two prophets show up there and testify to Christ being the one. Though he's told his disciples about all these things that are going to happen, the suffering that must happen, the suffering they will do for the kingdom, that Jesus will even be put to death, but he's gonna rise again.

He shows to Peter, James, and John that they would have hope. Jesus will later say to Peter that after he has been crucified, he's supposed to be one that is going to strengthen his brothers and is going to encourage them and lift them up.

Peter should have been doing this knowing that he had seen the glory of the son. But we know that Peter was just as timid and as afraid as the rest of the disciples in those three days that Jesus was in the tomb.

Because even he's astonished when Jesus rises from the dead. Anyway, this vision is to show them and assure them that Jesus is the Christ. And the disciples are not to talk about it until the son of man rises from the dead.

So they were discussing these things even before Jesus ascended into heaven. Remember that Jesus was with his disciples for 40 days between his resurrection and his ascension into heaven. So this event that we read about here would have been talked about again during those 40 days.

Anyway, that's really what we're gonna get into tomorrow. I'm now jumping ahead. We were just gonna look at verses three through eight today. Tomorrow, we're gonna come to verses nine through 13 and read about what Jesus said to his disciples after this had happened, after the transfiguration.

But again, this to show his disciples that he is the son of God. And the disciples beheld his glory, as Peter says in 2 Peter 1, and John alludes to it as well in 1 John 1. Not to mention John getting to see it again in Revelation 1, that he is God glorified, worthy of our praise.

Heavenly father, may we also see the glory of God in what we have read here in the scriptures. And we know that Jesus is the Messiah, who by his death takes away our sin for all who believe in him. By his resurrection, we have been justified as said in Romans 4 .25.

May we continue to live this day in the glory of the son that we have been shown. We would live in his righteousness. We desire holiness. And we would testify to these things until the son of man returns in glory.

We thank you for your goodness to us that we might read these scriptures and understand them and give glory to the one who is worthy of our worship. It is in Jesus' name that we pray, amen.

This is When We Understand the Text, a daily Bible study in the word of Christ that men and women of God may be complete, equipped for every good work. Tell your friends about our ministry at www .utt .com.

Here's your teacher, Pastor Gabe.