SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 10/18/2022 11:11 AM
My Worship Time Focus:
“The Transformation of the Son”
Bible Reading & Meditation Reference:
Matthew 17:2
Message of the verse: “2 And He was transfigured before them; and His face shone
like the sun, and His garments became as white as light.”
John MacArthur tells us that “Was transfigured is
from metamorphoo, which has the basic
meaning of changing into another form and is the term from which we get Metamorphosis. Because no further description is given, all
we know of the change is that, during this brief display of divine glory, Jesus’
face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as light. The Jesus who had been living for over thirty
years in ordinary human form was not practically seen in the blazing effulgence
of God (cf. Heb. 1:1-3).” “1 God, after
He spoke long ago to the fathers in the prophets in many portions and in many
ways, 2 in these last days has spoken to
us in His Son, whom He appointed heir of all things, through whom also
He made the world. 3 And He is the
radiance of His glory and the exact representation of His nature, and upholds
all things by the word of His power. When He had made purification of sins, He
sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high.” “From within Himself, in a way that defiles
full description, much less full explanation, Jesus’ divine glory was
manifested before Peter, James and John.”
It
is a mystery to me why some so called scholars have said that Jesus Christ is
not God come in the flesh to show us the Father. “7 “If you had known Me, you would have known
My Father also; from now on you know Him, and have seen Him." 8 Philip said
to Him, "Lord, show us the Father, and it is enough for us." 9 Jesus said to him, "Have
I been so long with you, and yet you have not come to know Me, Philip?
He who has seen Me has seen the Father; how can you say, ‘Show us the
Father’? 10 “Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father
is in Me? The words that I say to you I do not speak on My own initiative, but
the Father abiding in Me does His works. 11 "Believe Me that I am in the
Father and the Father is in Me; otherwise believe because of the works themselves”
(John 14:7-11), The passage we are
looking at today is also one of the greatest passages to show that Jesus Christ
is God as He was transfigured and His glory was seen. Moses had a similar experience in Exodus 33:18
Then Moses said, "I pray You, show me Your glory!" The rest of that chapter tells us exactly how
the Lord shows Moses His glory.
Now
as we continue looking at verse 2 of Matthew 17 we see that as the divine glory
radiated from His face, it illumined even His garments, which became as white
as light so dazzling and overwhelming that it could barely be withstood. Peter would write the following years later “For
when He received honor and glory from God the Father, such an utterance as this
was made to Him by the Majestic Glory, "This is My beloved Son with whom I
am well-pleased’” (2 Pet. 1:17). The
experience of seeing Christ’s glory must have been a major contributor to the
second coming’s becoming a dominant theme of Peter’s preaching and
writing. MacArthur writes “The message
of his two epistles might be summarized as:
‘Fellow believers, don’t worry about your pain, your hardship, your
testing, your persecution, your sacrifice.
Jesus is coming! That’s all that
really matters.’” As we look at John
1:14 it could be that John was thinking about this section from Matthew 17:2
when he writes “And the Word
became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and
truth” (John 1:14). Nothing is said from James, but James was the very
first apostle to be slain for the cause of Christ.
Let us look at Matthew 24:30 and then 25:31 “"And then the sign of the Son of Man will appear in
the sky, and then all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and they will see the
SON OF MAN COMING ON THE CLOUDS OF THE SKY with power and great glory.” “"But when the Son of Man comes in His
glory, and all the angels with Him, then He will sit on His glorious throne.” Now we will
look at John’s vision which he say while on Patmos: “12 Then I turned to see the voice that was
speaking with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands; 13 and in the middle of the lampstands I saw
one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded
across His chest with a golden sash. 14 His head and His hair were white like white
wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. 15 His feet were
like burnished bronze, when it has been made to glow in a furnace, and His
voice was like the sound of many waters. 16 In His right hand He held seven stars, and out
of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun
shining in its strength” (Rev. 1:12-16).
While Jesus Christ was on earth in human form His
glory was veiled, but when He comes again to earth He will come in His full
divine majesty and glory; a glimpse of which Peter, James, and John witnessed on
the mountain. There certainly was no
doubt in their minds of who Jesus Christ is, God incarnate, and there should
have been not doubts that He would come some day in the fulness of glory.
10/18/2022 11:51 AM
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