“Assuredly,
I say to you, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till they
see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.” Now after six days Jesus took Peter,
James, and John his brother, led them up on a high mountain by themselves;
and He was transfigured before them. His face shone like the sun, and His
clothes became as white as the light. And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to
them, talking with Him. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Lord, it is
good for us to be here; if You wish, let us make here three tabernacles: one
for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” While he was still speaking,
behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them; and suddenly a voice came out of the
cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. Hear Him!”
And when the disciples heard it,
they fell on their faces and were greatly afraid. But Jesus came and touched
them and said, “Arise, and do not be afraid.” When they had lifted up their
eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. Now as they came down from the mountain,
Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man
is risen from the dead.” (Matthew
16:28-17:9)
And
He said to them, “Assuredly, I say to you that there are some standing here who
will not taste death till they see the kingdom of God present with power.” Now
after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John, and led them up on a high
mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them. His clothes
became shining, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can
whiten them. And Elijah appeared to them with Moses, and they were talking with
Jesus. Then Peter answered and said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be
here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one for Moses, and one
for Elijah”— because he did not know what to say, for they were greatly afraid.
And a cloud came and overshadowed them; and a voice came out of the cloud,
saying, “This is My beloved Son. Hear Him!” Suddenly, when they had looked
around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves. (Mark 9:1-8)
“But
I tell you truly, there are some standing here who shall not taste death till
they see the kingdom of God.” Now it came to pass, about eight days after these
sayings, that He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to
pray. As He prayed, the appearance of His face was altered, and His robe became white and glistening. And behold, two men talked with Him, who were
Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His decease which He was
about to accomplish at Jerusalem. But Peter and those with him were heavy with
sleep; and when they were fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who
stood with Him. Then it happened, as they were parting from Him, that Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it
is good for us to be here; and let us make three tabernacles: one for You, one
for Moses, and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. While he was saying
this, a cloud came and overshadowed them; and they were fearful as they entered
the cloud. And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is My beloved Son.
Hear Him!” When the voice had ceased, Jesus was found alone. But they kept
quiet, and told no one in those days any of the things they had seen. (Luke 9:27-36)
If Moses and Elijah did not ascend to Heaven either at
death or in a chariot of fire, or if they did not go into Abraham’s Bosom, then how do we explain their presence on the
mountain where Jesus was transfigured? The three disciples who were present
witnessed Jesus having a conversation with them so should it not be assumed
that both Moses and Elijah were actually present there in some form?
I do not believe that the text warrants this
understanding. Both Moses’ and Elijah’s appearances were part of a ‘vision’ (Matthew 17:9). Why would it
have to be the actual Moses and Elijah? While visions in the Bible often
involved direct communication with real living persons, not least God Himself
(Gen 15:1; Num 12:6; Ezek 1:1), there are other examples of visions where the
individuals evidently were not there. One example is found in Acts 16:9-10.
Paul is called by God to go to Macedonia to preach the Gospel. God uses ‘a man of Macedonia’ to tell Paul to do
so: ‘Come over to Macedonia and help us.’
Was this man really where Paul was at the time, Troas?
Given the general understanding that, if we have an immaterial soul it is
housed within the body throughout this life, then presumably this man did not
travel ‘in spirit’ to Troas to give Paul this message. In short, the Macedonian
man was not there. God had used his image in a vision in order to relay a
message.
Objects and creatures are also used in visions, which,
one can reasonably assume, were not in actuality needed in order for the vision
to fulfil its purpose (Acts 11:5; Revelation 9:17).
Each of the three Transfiguration accounts were
preceded by the statement that some of the disciples would not see death until
they saw the Kingdom of God (Matthew 16:28; Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27). Presumably
this was referring to the visible return of Christ to earth to rule - in which
case, something that is still future. Mark's reference even adds the words ‘the Kingdom of God after it has come with
power’, perhaps putting it into contrast with the mysterious way in
which the Kingdom is here today (e.g. Matthew 13).
On each of these three occasions we immediately read
of the Transfiguration account, where three disciples witnessed a transformed
Jesus with Moses and Elijah. I am assuming these three disciples were the ones
Jesus said would not see death until they saw the Kingdom, and that this was the
fulfilment of the prediction. In effect, they were witnessing the future in the
present, much like John was in Revelation. All in all, I therefore see it as a
vision of the future: Jesus returning in His glory. Moses and Elijah would not
have had to be there in any actual form (physical or non-physical) themselves.
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