FROM INSPIRATION POINT

#11 The Mount of Transfiguration

If I could have lived in the time of Jesus, and would have had the opportunity to be one of his disciples, I would have liked to be either Peter, James, or John, for they were privileged to go with Jesus and experience some of his most precious moments.

On one occasion he chose the three of them to go with him on to a high mountain. They were not briefed about the things that were going to happen and they had no idea what was in store for them. Some claim that it was Mt. Tabor, eight miles southeast of Nazareth. Others feel certain that it was Mt. Hermon, which rises to about ten thousand feet in Lebanon, and is the source of the Jordan River. It matters not upon which mountain it took place but that it did happen and that they were eye witnesses. Peter recounts the incident in I Peter 1:16-19.

The overwhelming significance was, not that there was a vision of Moses and Elijah, but that the voice from heaven made the distinction of authority. Peter suggested building an alter (place of worship) to all three which would link together Judaism and Christianity, but the voice from heaven said, "This is my Son in whom I am well pleased, hear him." [Mat. 17:5] During his lifetime Moses told Israel, "God shall raise up from among you a prophet, like unto me, and him shall you hear in all things." [Deut. 18:15] Stephen quoted this just before his stoning in Acts 7:37.

Peter did not want to leave any of the great prophets out of his worship. Like many of us, he wanted to be as ecumenical as possible, at least from his own experience. He was not going to include Baal or any of the pagan gods, but he did want to include God's messengers from his past experience.

At the mount of transfiguration God brought all of the law and the prophets together in Christ Jesus, "when he raised him from the dead and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and power, and might, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come; and has put all things under his feet, and gave him to be the head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all." [Eph. 1:20-23]

Although I was not present with Peter, James, and John, the voice that made the difference is still mine to hear every day and that can give me life.

-John Young