The Vision on the Mountain
CHAPTER 48
AT ONE time while Jesus was staying in one of the villages at the foot of Mount Hermon, in the far north of the land, he took with him three of his disciples, Peter, James and John, and went up the mountain to pray. It was in the afternoon, when they walked up the mountain, and when night came on he was still in prayer. The three disciples were tired from climbing the mountain and fell asleep for a little time. When they awoke they were filled with wonder at the change which had come over their Lord.
Although it was night, they saw the face of Jesus shining as brightly as the sun at noon, with a dazzling glory so great that they could not bear to look upon him. His clothes too were shining white and glittering. Not only his face, but his hands, his feet and even his body beamed through his garments with brightness.
They saw standing beside Jesus in his splendor two men who had lived long before on the earth and were now living no more. How the disciples knew them we are not told. Perhaps the knowledge flashed upon their minds, given them by God; or it may have been that as they listened to these two men, they learned from their words who they were. One was the great prophet Moses, who led the Israelites out of Egypt and died on Mount Nebo; the other was the prophet Elijah, who spoke bold words to the wicked King Ahab and was taken up to heaven in a chariot of fire. Both these men had passed from earth many hundred years before.
As the three disciples looked and listened, they could hear what these two prophets of the old times were saying. They were talking to Jesus about his death which was to take place at Jerusalem. So these two great men of the past knew already what Jesus had tried to tell his disciples, and what they were so slow to believe, that he was soon to die!
Peter was always eager to speak, and he spoke now, though he scarcely understood what his own words meant.
