Power and Glory of His Coming.—Luke 9:28-50

Notes

1. That the transfiguration was a miniature representation of the second coming of Christ, is evident from the words of Peter: "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For He received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to Him from the excellent glory, This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with Him in the holy mount." 2 Peter 1:16-18.

2. When Christ comes, it will be with the glory of the Father. Matt. 16:27. See also verse 26 of the chapter we are studying. When He comes, there will be two classes of the righteous,—those who have died, and are raised to life immortal, and those who are alive, and who are changed to immortality, and taken to heaven without tasting death. See 1 Thess. 4:14-17. These two classes were represented at the transfiguration. "Moses the servant of the Lord died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And He buried him in a valley in the land of Moab." Deut. 34:5, 6. The only way by which a man once dead can ever appear among the living is by a resurrection. Jude, in showing the meekness of Christ, incidentally refers to the resurrection of Moses: "Yet Michael the Archangel, when contending with the devil He disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee." Jude 9. The devil has the power of death, through sin (Heb. 2:14), and so he claimed Moses as his lawful prey. Christ claimed him by right of redemption, yet would not rail at the devil. By virtue of His superior power He delivered Moses from the grave, and so they were together in the holy mount. Elijah had been taken to heaven in a whirlwind,—translated to heaven without seeing death. These two representatives of the vast host of the redeemed at the last day, were with Christ when He appeared in the glory with which He will be clothed at His second advent.

3. "This is My beloved Son; hear Him." Does this absolve men from the duty of hearing and obeying God the Father? Hear Him: "I will raise them up a Prophet from among their brethren, like unto thee, and will put My words in His mouth; and He shall speak unto them all that I shall command Him." Deut. 18:18. Hear Him: "Jesus answered them, and said, My doctrine is not Mine, but His that sent Me." John 7:16. "For I have not spoken of Myself; but the Father which sent Me, He gave Me a commandment, what I should say, and what I should speak." John 12:49. "The words that I speak unto you I speak not of Myself; but the Father that dwelleth in Me, He doeth the works." John 14:10. "As My Father hath taught Me, I speak these things." John 8:28. Hear Him: "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets; I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill." Matt. 5:17. "And it is easier for heaven and earth to pass, than one tittle of the law to fail." Luke 16:17. "Not everyone that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in heaven." Matt. 7:21. Christ is the only manifestation of God to man. The law of God is the righteousness of God. Isa. 51:6, 7; Rom. 3:21, 22. It is God's way. Ps. 119:1, 2. Therefore the life of God is the law of the universe. But Christ is God. In Him is life, even the life of God. In the life of Christ we see the law of God in action. So the law of God is found by men only in the life of Christ. He is the one mediator between God and man, to bring man to God. Therefore we are commanded to hear Him. For the Father "hath committed all judgment unto the Son; that all men should honor the Son, even as they honor the Father." John 5:22, 23.