The Lord Jesus, as we all know, is a very controversial figure from history. Now, the fact that he was a first-century Jewish rabbi is not widely contested, and no one has a problem with Jesus being a “good moral teacher.” Even Christians would agree with this sentiment to some extent. The disagreements come as to whether or not Jesus was truly God-incarnate and whether or not He is the way, truth, and life (John 14:6).
Up to this point in Matthew, Jesus has healed countless maladies and cast out demons, but in Matthew 17 there comes a picture of Him in glory. He foretold this at the end of chapter 16, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom” (Matt. 16:28). Six days later, Jesus’ inner circle (Peter, James, and John) go with Him onto a high mountain, and He is transfigured before them. In this account, there is a picture of the Christ in His pre-incarnate and future glory. He is commended by the Law and Prophets through the presence of Moses and Elijah and the Father’s voice comes from heaven endorsing Him, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased; listen to him” (Matt. 17:5).
In the transfiguration account, we’re reminded once again that Jesus was no ordinary Jewish rabbi. The apostle Paul recounts how in the incarnation, Christ was humbling Himself from a place of pre-incarnate glory. Though He was in the form of God, He takes on the form of a slave, being born in the likeness of men (see Phil. 2:6-7). He didn’t abuse His divine position and the power it granted to Him. Instead, He humbled Himself. He came into His world the same way any other human being would, being born as a baby. Born to poor Jewish parents without a proper place to stay, He was placed in a manger. He went about for 33 and a half years in His earthly ministry, “doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil (Acts 10:38). Yet, in the entirety of His time on earth, He was in a humble state. He took on human form, adding humanity and its limitations to His divinity. The Creator became the creature, the infinite became finite. Suddenly, He would eat and sleep like the rest of us even though God has no need for sleep.
The transfiguration gives a picture of Jesus the Christ in His glory. The glory He had before the worlds were formed. The glory He then ascended to once again. The apostle John, the one whom Jesus loved, one of the three on the mountain with Jesus during the transfiguration falls at His feet as dead when He sees Him in His final glory! (see Rev. 1:17). He writes, “and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. 14 The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire, 15 his feet were like burnished bronze, refined in a furnace, and his voice was like the roar of many waters. 16 In his right hand he held seven stars, from his mouth came a sharp two-edged sword, and his face was like the sun shining in full strength” (Rev. 1:13-16, ESV).
This humble Jewish rabbi was truly much more than a good moral teacher. He is divine. He was pre-existent in glory and to glory He returned. Yet, He came down, humbly, to die for our sins. Humbling Himself to death, even death on a cross (Phil. 2:8). Paying the price for our sins so that we can have a hope of future glory by grace. He is now ascended and exalted (see Phil. 2:9-11) and all who trust in Him this side of eternity now have a hope for final glory. We have a hope of eternal life with our Savior with everlasting bliss. We have a hope for a glorified body, like our Lord as Paul once powerfully concluded, “Just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of heaven” (1 Cor. 15:49). What an awesome preview we see in this account in Matthew’s Gospel!
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