Matthew 17 Pt.1 – Christ Transformed and Unveiled!

by Michael Robson

As we saw in Matt.16: 27-28, Jesus said that there were some standing there who would not taste death until they saw the Lord Coming in His Glory. We looked at some possible interpretations of those verses. The common opinion is that what took place in Matthew 17:1-4 was the fulfilment of that for 3 of Jesus’ disciples: Peter, James, and John.

They saw Jesus in all His glory for a brief moment on the mountain top, and then what appears to have been a vision of Moses and Elijah appeared to them. In this moment Jesus was transfigured or transformed before their very eyes. The Greek word used to describe what took place is μετεμορφώθη from which we get the word metamorphosis, a word used to describe the process that a caterpillar goes through to become a butterfly. Something took place there on that mountain in which Jesus crossed between the human and the divine and the veil was taken away – i.e., the veil of His flesh was somehow maybe made transparent so that these disciples saw Jesus in all His glory.

John would later write about this in John 1:14 and Peter would write about it in 2 Peter 1:16-18.

There is evidence all over the New Testament of people describing the Lord as The Light or a Light Brighter than the midday sun (See Acts 9:3; 22:6; 26:13; Rev.21:23). All these are descriptions of the One who is Light and not merely a reflection of the light. We need to see Jesus for who He really is: He is the blessed and Only Potentate, the King of kings and LORD of Lords, who ALONE has Immortality, dwelling in UNAPPROACHABLE LIGHT, whom no man has seen or can see, to whom be honour and everlasting power. Amen! (1 Tim.6:16).

To watch the full video of today’s church service with our worship team and communion service, just click on this link!

Michael Robson