Behind The Curtain - Mark 9:1-7 Series

Mark 9:1 And he said to them, "I tell you the truth, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the kingdom of God come with power."

2 After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. There he was transfigured before them. 3 His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them.

4 And there appeared before them Elijah with Moses, who were talking with Jesus. 5 Peter said to Jesus, "Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters-- one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah." 6 (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.)

7 Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: "This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!" 8 Suddenly, when they looked round, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus.

9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. 10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what "rising from the dead" meant.

11 And they asked him, "Why do the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first?" 12 Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah does come first, and restores all things. Why then is it written that the Son of Man must suffer much and be rejected? 13 But I tell you, Elijah has come, and they have done to him everything they wished, just as it is written about him."

15 As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him.

Introduction

Every day you are bombarded with thousands of messages. The great majority of them, your brain filters out. Some of them you hear. And a small fraction of those you really listen to. And the direction of your life and the final destination where you end up will all be determined by which of those voices are in the last category. Who really has your ear—that’s what dictates where your life goes and what you become.

We come tonight in our study of Mark to a unique event. Usually when Jesus does a miracle, there are plenty of other similar miracles. But the Transfiguration is different. It’s unique, and it’s unexpected. If it had never happened, we wouldn’t miss it. None of us would read the gospels and say, “You know, I think there should have been a transfiguration at some point.”

It’s unique, it’s unexpected, and it just sort of comes and goes in the narrative without any concluding statement telling us what it means. They go up the mountain, Jesus becomes really bright and shiny, Elijah and Moses show up and talk to Jesus, then they disappear and they come down the mountain and have a discussion about Elijah. Then it’s over, and Mark moves on to the next event. What are we to make of it? Why did it happen? And why is it in the Bible—recorded in three different gospels? And how should we respond? Peter throws out an idea, but Mark shoots that down. So we know one wrong way to respond, but what’s the right way? At the end, I’ll tell you exactly what the meaning and purpose and primary application are and how it all relates to what I just said about listening. But first, let’s refresh our memory about the context.

The Promise: Some Will See

Jesus Will Come in the Daniel 7 Glory

The Transfiguration event arises out of a promise Jesus made at the end of ch.8. Jesus had just dropped the bomb about how he must suffer and die, and all his followers must follow in that path. It’s a decidedly non-glorious picture he paints of his kingdom. But he ends his remarks by letting us know that the suffering and death and lowliness and weakness—it’s all necessary, but it’s not the last word. After the suffering, there’s going to be glory.

Mark 8:38 If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels.

The idea of the Son of Man coming in glory on Judgment Day comes from Daniel 7, where Daniel has a vision about someone who appears to be a human being (a son of man), and yet he is given an eternal kingdom and will be worshipped by everyone forever.

Daniel 7:13 In my vision at night I looked, and there before me was one like a son of man, coming with the clouds of heaven. He approached the Ancient of Days and was led into his presence. 14 He was given authority, glory and sovereign power; all peoples, nations and men of every language worshipped him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that will not pass away, and his kingdom is one that will never be destroyed.