A week later, Jesus takes three of his disciples, Petr, James and John with him to a mountain by themselves. There he is transfigured before them - he is changed and becomes a bright, bright white that they can barely stand to look at. He is visited by Moses and Elijah when he is in this state and they talk their on the mountain.
There is much to say about this miracle and the disciples reactions, their keeping of this secret until after Jesus' resurrection, and more. The thing that touches my heart in the account is Moses' presence on this mountain with the Lord.
Do you remember the end of Moses' story in the book of Deuteronomy? Moses is taken to a mountain top overlooking 'The Promised Land" and there he is told by God that he will not be making the final leg of the journey. One of the great examples of obedience is seen in Deuteronomy 34. Take a moment to read this account, "Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the Western Sea, the Negeb, and the Plain—that is, the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees—as far as Zoar. The Lord said to him, ‘This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, “I will give it to your descendants”; I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not cross over there.’ Then Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, at the Lord’s command." Deuteronomy 34:1-5 NRSV. Did you catch that? Imagine the disappointment f hearing that you have made the hard 40 year journey and will not be entering into the Promised Land, and yet as an obedient servant Moses lays down and dies at the Lord's command. WOW! That's real obedience friends.
Now generations later I love the fact that Moses is on another mountain and here he sees not only the promised land, but The Promise giver - the Messiah face to face as he always pleaded for. I will smile all day thinking about this awesome gift and the grace of our God who fulfills all God's promises ad gives us more that we can ask or imagine. What do you desire from God today?
About Me
- Pastor Bill
- I am a committed follower of Jesus Christ, a happy husband, father and grandfather!
2 comments:
I never ever thought about Moses being on the mountain that way before - I like that. Otherwise, the transfiguration story is sometimes baffling to me, except that i can (as usual) relate to Peter - confused and making gestures he doesn't really understand.
This exchange between Peter and Jesus re: taxes is a bit different. Jesus as the child of the king exempt from paying taxes, is that what he's saying?
And the faith to move mountains - I like that verse too...
Some great stuff in here. How crazy it is to have all these historical people from the bible appear with Jesus...and to have Jesus transformed. I can't imagine how that would have looked. We're not used to seeing things that we can't explain too well...
I do enjoy how you related this scene to the last time Moses was on the mountain, and his loyalty to God. What a great testament. I think it'd be hard for most of us to say that we could have that kind of faith. You work all your life for something, and then it just doesn't happen. How about that?
The taxes thing seemed to show us that Jesus wanted to be above reproach. He knew that he wasn't really responsible for paying the taxes, but he wanted to make sure he followed the rules nonetheless. He helps us to know that we should always do that too...like even though we know we can drink legally, should we really do it...duh no.
Anyway, how about the fact that the chapter ends with Jesus telling Peter to go to the fish and get the money - but it never says that the money was actually there. I guess we can deduce it, because we trust Jesus. That's always been an interesting point to me.
What do I desire from God today, eh?
It's all so awesome. What do we desire from God today? So much, but just knowing he's always there is pretty awesome.
God bless all,
Marshall
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