Transfiguration Pt.4: Did Elijah Fail? - Mark 9:8-13 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."

Gag Order

Today is our fourth session on the Transfiguration account in Mark. Jesus lit up like the sun, Peter started mumbling something but that was interrupted by the arrival of the glory of God in a cloud. The glory of God had departed from the Temple hundreds of years before this, and this is the first it had been seen since. The cloud envelops them so they are inside the cloud with God. God speaks to them and, predictably, the experience wipes them out, they end up on their faces on the ground, and Jesus has to get them calmed down enough to where they can stand again (Mt.17:6-7). Once they recover, Moses and Elijah are gone, the cloud is gone, only Jesus remains, now it’s time to make the descent down this high mountain.

They start working their way down. And Jesus, once again, repeats the gag order. 9 As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen Jesus has been doing that over and over all through the first half of Mark. But this is the last time—he never does it in the second half. So it’s the last time Jesus gives it, and it’s the first time he reveals when the gag order will be lifted. 9 Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen And here’s the new part:

… until the Son of Man had risen from the dead.

After that they have the green light. Why? Because only then will they understand the suffering and death part of the gospel. Remember, we discovered at the end of ch.8 that the reason for the gag order is that you can’t get the gospel right if you don’t understand the suffering part. And for once, someone obeys the gag order.

10 They kept the matter to themselves

Can you imagine? If I see a big strike of lightning I can’t wait to tell someone about it. Can you imagine seeing what may be the greatest thing that has ever happened on earth and you can’t a soul? But they manage to keep it quiet, but there’s a problem. How long did Jesus say to keep it quiet? Until he rose from the dead. The problem is, they don’t know what he means by that.

Resurrection

10 They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what "rising from the dead" meant.

“Hey, I realize we need to keep this on the DL until after he ‘rises,’ but what does that mean?” Can you see why they aren’t quite ready to go out and preach the gospel? They have no idea what Jesus means by “rising from the dead.” If someone wants to be a preacher but he doesn’t know what Jesus meant by rising from the dead, he’s not ready.

Now, does that mean they didn’t know what the word resurrection meant? Of course they knew that—they had watched Jesus raise people from the dead multiple times. These same three men were in the room when Jesus raised Jairus’ daughter from the dead. They knew exactly what resurrection was. And they knew there would be a resurrection at the end of the age. The confusion came from the fact that it sounded like Jesus was talking about his own resurrection—during their lifetimes. And that makes no sense, because it would mean Jesus would have to be dead, which was something they still couldn’t accept. Sometimes we miss the greatest things God tells us because we can’t accept the hard things that come before them.