Chapter 9: WITH HIM ON THE HOLY MOUNT
Chapter 9: WITH HIM ON THE HOLY MOUNT
Matt. xvii. 1-9; 2 Pet. i. 16-18
"If ever on the mount with Thee
I seem to soar in vision bright,
With thoughts of coming agony,
Stay Thou the too presumptuous flight.
Gently along the vale of tears
Lead me from Hermon's sunbright steep,
Let me not grudge a few short years
With Thee toward Heaven to work and weep."
—Keble
ON THE AFTERNOON of the last day of our Lord's sojourn at Caesarea Philippi He proposed to His three chief Apostles that they should accompany Him for a season of retirement to the upper slopes of Hermon. Little realizing what awaited them, they readily consented, and accompanied Him to a scene which left an ineffaceable impression. In his last days Peter referred to it as affording the outstanding evidence of his Master's Divine nature and mission.
For him it was "the Holy Mount," where he and the others had been eye-witnesses of Christ's majesty, when He received from the Father honour and glory.
There could be no doubt about it. They had not followed nor promulgated cunningly devised fables!
I. THE ACCESSORIES OF THE TRANSFIGURATION. — The place was clearly Mount Hermon. The previous days had been spent at its foot. Mount Tabor, which formerly was supposed to have been the chosen spot for this sublime spectacle, was at that time (so later investigation has proved) the site of a Roman fort and garrison, which would have been totally incongruous with the mystic beauty of heavenly glory. And the vivid comparison, in Peter's special Gospel of Mark, between the Master's appearance and the snow, is an additional confirmation that Mount Hermon's snowcapped heights were in his thought. Here only in Palestine is there the permanent presence of snow.
The time was almost certainly the night. Our Lord was accustomed to spend nights on the mountains, which are the natural altars of the world. The overpowering sleep that mastered the Apostles, until the Transfiguration Glory was on the point of passing, also suggests the night season. This conclusion is further corroborated by the fact, as we are expressly told, that it was "the next day" when they came down from the hill and met the excited crowd, which had been attracted by the poor demon-possessed boy and his demented parents. We need not dwell on the enhanced beauty which is shed on the entire narrative by the reflection that the background of the night afforded additional beauty and lustre to the radiant glory which enwrapt the Person and garments of the Lord.
It is noticeable that the glory passed on Him as He prayed. In the case of Moses the glory of his face was due to its absorption of the Eternal Light on which he gazed. It was a giving back of what had been received.
There are diamonds which, after being held in the sparkle of the sun, will continue to coruscate long after they have been transferred to a darkened chamber.
Moses had spent forty days and nights in God's presence-chamber, and the light before which Israel shrank away was the immediate result of that memorable interview. As he beheld he was changed into the same image. But in the case of our Lord the glory which the disciples beheld — which streamed through His garments, so that His ordinary dress became shining, exceeding white as snow, so as no fuller on earth could whiten — was the raying forth from within of the glory of the Only-begotten of the Father. It is not improbable that, whenever He was alone on the mountain heights in fellowship with His Father, He laid aside His shrouding disguise, and the same phenomenon recurred, though there were no eye-witnesses to chronicle it.
In this connection let us heed the earnest beseeching admonition of the Apostle Paul, who had only heard of the Transfiguration during his memorable fortnight spent, years after, with Peter. Let us be transfigured by the renewing of our minds; then, as we present our bodies as a holy and living sacrifice to God, they also shall be transfigured — the light shall shine from within and prove what is the good and acceptable and perfect will of God.
The appearance of Moses and Elijah added greatly to the impressiveness of the spectacle. They were the representative leaders of the Hebrew Theocracy.
Moses was the embodiment of the Law, Elijah of the Prophets. In both cases the circumstances of their removal from the scenes of earthly ministry had been remarkable. Moses had died on the lonely heights of Pisgah beneath God's kiss, and was buried by His hands in an unknown grave. Elijah had gone home in a chariot of fire, sent for his convoy. But these wonders did not account for their advent, which was due to the special encouragement which they were able to afford the Redeemer at this great crisis.
Only a few days before our Lord had unfolded, with graphic minuteness, the scenes of His approaching death. Immediately Peter, speaking for the rest, had sought to dissuade Him. "Spare Thyself," he said; "this shall not be for Thee." They were not able to understand or sympathize. Love, doubtless, and passionate devotion inspired this impulsive soul in taking on himself to rebuke his Lord. But, as on the Mount afterwards, so then, he knew not what he said. It was necessary, therefore, that redeemed humanity should furnish two of its strongest and noblest ambassadors to reinforce and strengthen our Lord, upon the human side, ere He set His face steadfastly to go up to Jerusalem to die. He was acting on the agreement of the Eternal Council-chamber, and pursuing the course marked out before the foundation of the world; but, as in the glades of Gethsemane an angel was sent to strengthen His human nature, so now Moses and Elijah were the chosen emissaries of the Eternal World, who stood on His right and left, assuring Him of the Father's sustaining help, and of the glory which must accrue when the bitterness of death had passed.
II. THE THEME OF THE CELESTIAL VISITANTS. — "They spoke of the decease which He was to accomplish at Jerusalem." The Greek word is "exodus " — a term which struck Peter's imagination. In after years he employed it of his own death. "I must put off this tabernacle," he said, "even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me; but I will endeavour after my exodus that you may have these things always in remembrance."
It must have been a very startling rebuke to Peter and his companions. To them the death of the Cross seemed as unthinkable as it appeared unnecessary.
Certainly He who had saved others could save Himself from such incredible shame and torture! Surely it must never take place! Neither God nor man could suffer it! Their Lord might have incurred the hatred of their religious leaders, but there need be no collision between Him and the Roman authorities, and these alone could impose death by crucifixion.
But now, to their surprise, they discovered that Heaven could speak of nothing else! It was apparently the one subject about which Moses and Elijah cared to speak. Whatever their differences in character and function, they were in absolute agreement on this all-absorbing topic. As soon as the opportunity offered of intercourse with Jesus, they fell to talking on it. It was the absorbing theme that engrossed the innumerable company of angels and the spirits of just men made perfect. The songs of the celestial harpers were set to this key-note, and the angels were bending over the mystery of a world's redemption, as their Lord drew nearer to paying its price, not with silver and gold, but with precious blood, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot. He had been fore-ordained before the foundation of the world, but was now about to manifest the uttermost of Divine Love, in the last times of the Hebrew dispensation.
Moses would speak of the Passover Lamb, the slaying of which preceded the Exodus by which his people passed to liberty, and would assure our Lord that His death would mean emancipation and victory, when — on the shores of the sea of glass, its placid waters red with the mingled fire of the Eternal Sunrise — the ransomed hosts of the redeemed would sing the song of Moses and the Lamb.
Elijah would remind Him that the spirit of prophecy was the testimony of Jesus, and that it was written in the Prophets and the Psalms that the Christ should suffer and should enter into His Glory. He would specially quote Isa. 53, that He should see of the travail of His soul and be satisfied, and that by His knowledge He should justify untold myriads.
Moses would testify that each victim which had bled on the altars of Israel had no intrinsic virtue to put away sin; and that if He were now to fail, all their suffering would be abortive, and that the redemption which the saints were already enjoying must be revoked.
Elijah would assure Him that on the other side of the Jordan of death, the strong waters of which He would cleave as He passed, the chariot of the Ascension cloud awaited Him. He might have said: "By death Thou wilt abolish death. Thou wilt rob death of its sting and the grave of its victory. Thou wilt bring Life and Immortality to light. The waters of Jordan will be cut off for ever, and all Thy redeemed shall pass over on dry land."
Clearly, the death of the Cross, which our Lord saw awaiting Him on the sky-line, is the theme of Eternity.
At first the holy beings celebrated in ceaseless chant the story of Creation: "Worthy art Thou, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honour and power, for Thou didst create all things." But this was latterly exchanged for the yet more jubilant outburst: "Worthy is the Lamb." He was the Lamb slain before the foundation of the world. The effect of His death was destined to be felt, not only on earth, but in reconciling things in the heavens. Every created thing which was in heaven and on the earth and under the earth, and on the sea, and all things that were in them, were to be affected by it, and probably brought nearer the heart of God. Because He would become obedient to the death of the Cross, every knee would bow to Him, and every tongue confess that He was Lord, to the glory of God the Father. He would obtain the Name that was above every name; would put down all rule, authority, and power; and would win the subjection of all things to Himself, preparatory to handing all to the Father, that He might be All in all! Can we wonder at the intense interest with which the great cloud of witnesses watched the Saviour, as (so to speak) He stepped into the stadium to run the last lap in the great race, to fight the last fight in the stupendous struggle? The battlements of the Holy City were crowded with awestruck crowds, until the Ascension hour called them to follow in the glad procession of the Victor. Without controversy, great is the mystery of Godliness. He was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached among the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.
III. THE ENFOLDING CLOUD. — Peter had made a suggestion, which was as ill-considered as it was hasty.
In his account of this scene, communicated through Mark, he admits that he knew not what he was saying.
It was a preposterous suggestion, which at least would make the Crucifixion impossible, that our Lord should disregard the claims of a lost world, and spend His remaining years in a tabernacle on the mountain-side.
According to Peter, Moses and Elijah were also to be detained from their blessed residence and ministry in the Upper Sanctuary. To think of these six living in rapturous fellowship on a high mountain-top, instead of coping with such scenes as that which awaited at the mountain-foot! Peter had much to learn and far to travel ere he could write: "Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the tree, that we, being dead to sins, might live unto righteousness; by whose stripes ye were healed."
Whilst he was speaking thus he and his fellow Apostles beheld a cloud descending, which enveloped the radiant vision. They feared as they saw their Master and His celestial visitants cut off from them and hidden in the brightness of that mist of glory. "Behold a bright cloud overshadowed them." It was no ordinary cloud, but was probably the Shekinah-cloud that led the wilderness march, that filled Solomon's Temple on its dedication, and that formed the Lord's Ascension Chariot. From its heart the voice of the Eternal God was heard, bearing sublime witness to the Saviour as the Beloved Son, and demanding homage from all. That voice was heard by the three awestruck Apostles, and surely their solemn attestation to this remarkable testimony is full of re-assurance and confirmation.
What might have been! As the sinless Man, the Second Adam need not have died. Had the first Adam not sinned, he would probably have passed to God, as those will who are alive and remain to the Coming of the Lord. So with Christ, the sinless Man. His mortality might have been swallowed up of life. He need not have been unclothed, but clothed upon. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, He might have passed with Moses and Elijah, through the open door of Paradise, to become the Patron, though not the Redeemer, of our race. Such a translation might have been possible; but if, at any moment, it was presented to His mind, He thrust it away, as He did when Peter suggested it, with, "Get thee behind me, Satan, thou savourest the things of men." For the joy that was set before Him — or instead of the joy set before Him — He turned his back on Paradise for Himself, that He might open Paradise for the dying thief and for us.
And when the cloud had passed. He was left alone with His Apostles, and took the straight road to Calvary. In the words of Isaiah, He set His face like a flint, and we know that He has not been ashamed!