Friday, December 13, 2019

Prophetic Lesson of the Transfiguration

"Peter said: "We have not followed cunningly devised fables,
when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses 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. We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day-star arise in your hearts." (2 Peter 1:16-19)

In the above language the apostle refers to the transfiguration on the mount as a proof of the second coming of Christ.

Previous to this scene, our Savior had said to His apostles, "There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in His kingdom." (Matt. 16:28) As recorded by Luke, He also said, "There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the kingdom of God." (Luke 9:27)

The record of the fulfilment of this promise is found in the account of the transfiguration.
In this vision on the mount, they saw Jesus glorified, as He will appear when He comes in His kingdom.
----They saw Elijah, who was taken to heaven without tasting death, representing those who will be translated - changed -"in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye," when the Lord comes. (1 Cor. 15:51,52; 1 Thess. 4:16,17)
----There also was Moses, one who had died, representing those who will be raised from the dead to meet the Lord.
So, in this vision on the mount, they had a view of Christ coming in His kingdom, as He had promised them.

Though the apostles had seen this glorious sight on the mount of transfiguration, and had heard the voice of God's approval, the apostle Peter says, "We have a more sure word of prophecy."

By this statement he is not discrediting what they saw and heard on that memorable occasion.
Then they heard the voice of God only once; but in the great lines of prophecy, extending down to Christ's second coming, we have the voice of God oft repeated. In fact, every definite prophetic prediction fulfilled, or recorded in history, is the voice of God to us. It must be in this sense that the word of prophecy is "more sure." The Revised Version translates it "made more sure." The prophecy is made sure by every specification fulfilled.
Each and every event predicted, when fulfilled, is an assurance that the remaining events will surely come."
J.N.Loughborough