It may have a good effect in strengthening our gratitude for the Saviour’s mercy, to remember that every complexion of circumstance was freely and voluntarily submitted to, not merely for his own satisfaction or benefit, but principally for the good of man. Jesus never lost sight of his representative character. He always remembered those whose cause he had espoused: and, whether he was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, to be tempted of the devil—or into the garden of Gethsemane, to sustain his more fierce and violent assaults—or to the mountain, to put on for a season the habiliments of light and glory—his chief object and desire was to effect the redemption, and to revive the hopes of weak and fallen man.
We are now supplied by the Holy Spirit with a very brief account of the transfiguration itself. Before, however, we make any remark upon this description, or refer, as we desire to do, to the uses which this transaction was intended to serve, we must direct our attention for a few moments to the important preparation which the Saviour made for it. And here there are, perhaps, many who may be disposed to ask, had there not been sufficient preparation already? had not the Saviour endured much physical fatigue in accomplishing the wearisome ascent of the mountain? and had not the time, the place, and the spectators, been carefully selected by himself? Let it however be remembered, that in addition to all this, there was a necessary and absolutely indispensable preliminary, not to be omitted even by the Son of God, and that was prayer. It is said, by St. Luke, in the twenty-ninth verse of his ninth chapter, that “as he prayed, the fashion of his countenance was altered, and his raiment was white and glistering.” Let us learn from this, that not all the labour, mental or physical, which we can possibly exert, can ever bring us into the enjoyment of one momentary smile of God’s countenance, if we neglect prayer. We may diligently peruse the records of redeeming mercy which the sacred page of scripture contains; we may place ourselves under the pastoral care of some faithful and devoted minister of Jesus; we may enjoy the high advantage of intercourse and communion with many spiritually-minded followers of the Saviour; yet, after all, we shall find no benefit from these distinguished privileges if we neglect to pray. How many Christians there are, who often wish they had a Luther for their minister, because they feel dissatisfied with their spiritual progress under him to whose charge they may have been entrusted by the great Head of the church! And yet the cause of this may be traced to their own want of constant and of earnest prayer. Prayer is the key that unlocks the holy place where Jesus meets his people at the mercy-seat, to dispense the gifts which have been purchased by his precious blood. And when the united petitions of ministers and people ascend in an unceasing stream of sacred incense to a throne of grace, blessings may be expected to descend in rich abundance on the church.
But perhaps it may be considered that we have digressed from our subject. We return, then, to the circumstance which more immediately claims our attention. We are informed that Jesus was praying when he was transfigured; nay, it is remarkable that St. Luke represents his special object of ascending the mountain to have been in order to devote himself to this sacred engagement. “It came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, he took Peter, and John, and James, and went up into a mountain to pray.” Prayer was as much the Saviour’s duty, as it is the duty of any of his people. He had been expressly commanded by his Father to ask of him to give him the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession. All his works, whilst he was tabernacling in the flesh, were accompanied with prayer; and his present exaltation at the right hand of his heavenly Father, instead of suspending, rather imparts a more sublime intensity of fervour to his petitions. In vain had he shed his blood without this; for his prayers are as essential for the salvation of sinners, as his sufferings on the cross for their redemption; and therefore the apostle, in the twenty-fifth verse of the seventh chapter of the epistle to the Hebrews, connects the unlimited ability of Jesus to save, not only with his having offered himself as a sacrifice, but also with his ever living to make intercession for us. O! how welcome and delightful must be the accents of supplication to the ears of the Lord God of Sabaoth, when he withholds blessings, even from his well-beloved Son, until he ask for them! And how necessary is prayer, when Jesus cannot obtain blessings without it! There is a reserve manifested by the Holy Spirit in this, as in other instances, as to the contents of our Saviour’s petitions. Most probably they had some reference to that splendid scene in his earthly history, into which he was about to enter. We may imagine him to have addressed his heavenly Father in language somewhat similar to that which he employed when he was about to devote himself as a spotless victim on the cross: “Father, the hour is come; glorify thy Son, that thy Son also may glorify thee. Father, I will that they also whom thou hast given me be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me: for thou lovedst me before the foundation of the world.”
But we must pass on to the description which is given of the transfiguration of Jesus. “His face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.” On this we can say but little, for no imagination can conceive, nor can words express the exact nature of that splendid scene which is here so slightly glanced at. The Holy Spirit has employed the most concise mode of description in order to restrain our fancy within proper limits. We are, therefore, altogether incompetent to expatiate on a subject so sublime, for we know nothing, beyond what is written, of the glory which is associated with spiritual bodies. When Paul was led to speak of a state of future enjoyment, he could only express himself in the language of conjecture, and say, “I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed in us.” And when, on another occasion, he was anxious to comfort the church by a description of the resurrection-body into which the Saviour shall change the vile bodies of his people, he could only describe it by the use of words which merely implied a direct contrast between what we now are and what we shall be. Our present bodies are earthly, natural, mortal, and corruptible; our resurrection bodies shall be celestial, spiritual, immortal, incorruptible: but these latter expressions are only negations of the former; as to any positive apprehension of the nature of glorified bodies, “it doth not yet appear what we shall be.” And there is much wisdom in this reserve: there is enough told us upon the subject to encourage us to persevere in our endeavours to attain to the joy that is set before us, but not as much as would, in the meantime, render us too much discontented with our present state.
We must, however, carefully note that the Holy Spirit, in so far describing the Saviour’s transfiguration, has given a literal account of a real transaction. There is no cunningly-devised fable here. There was nothing visionary in the exhibition itself; there is nothing fanciful in the description of it. Jesus was actually metamorphosed; “his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light,” and, as on all ordinary occasions in the days of his flesh he was God manifest in the nature of man, so, during the continuance of this splendid scene, he exhibited his human nature manifested in and encompassed by the brightness and glory of his Godhead.
But it may be profitable to inquire into some of the uses of this great transaction, for such an occurrence could not have taken place without some important object. It was intended to prepare the Saviour for his approaching sufferings; to shew the interest which heaven took in his sacrifice; to be a source of strength and comfort to the church, by giving a type and specimen of that high degree of glory to which the nature of man is destined to be exalted in consequence of the Saviour’s dying love. But the leading object of this event was to give a representation of his second coming in majesty at the last day. It is not by any gratuitous assumption that we maintain this, but on the sure ground of strong scriptural testimony. We find St. Matthew representing the Saviour as promising some of his disciples that they should not taste of death till they saw him “coming in his kingdom;” and in the parallel passage in the ninth chapter of St. Mark, he is represented as saying that there were some standing with him who should not see death until they had seen the kingdom of God “come with power.” Now the apostle Peter combines the substance of these two declarations, in a manner which distinctly shews that he considered them as having a reference to the future advent of the Redeemer. “We have not followed cunningly-devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ;” and he speaks of “majesty,” “honour,” and “glory,” which are the appendages of a kingdom, and are to be the characteristics of the second advent of Jesus, in contrast with the meanness, poverty, and degradation of his first appearance in our world. Those, therefore, who say that the transfiguration had a typical reference either to the effusion of the Spirit on the day of pentecost, or to the destruction of Jerusalem, are greatly in error. It was meant to be a specimen and earnest of our Lord’s appearance hereafter in glory, when he shall come to be admired in all them that believe, and to establish his everlasting kingdom of righteousness and peace in the earth. The use of a type is to arrest and embody in a kind of visible indication the prominent features of its antitype; and, accordingly, if we examine the leading circumstances of the transfiguration, we shall find such a resemblance between it and the second coming of our Saviour, as will clearly establish such a relationship between these two events. Jesus appeared in literal human nature on the mountain; so shall he come again, as the Son of man, possessing the same nature with his people; for the apostles were informed when he ascended, that the very same Jesus who had been taken up from them into heaven should even so come in like manner as they had seen him ascend into heaven. He appeared in glory, and not in humility; such as he shall descend hereafter, when he shall come with all his holy angels and sit upon the throne of his glory. As he was visible on the mountain, so, when he shall come again, every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him; and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. As he was encompassed by a cloud on the summit of Tabor, so shall he come hereafter in the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory. As he stood in majesty upon the mountain, so according to the declaration of the prophet, his feet shall stand, when he comes again, upon the mount of Olives. And as Moses and Elias appeared in glory with the Saviour, so shall he bring his people with him on his return to our world, for, when Christ who is our life shall appear, then shall we also appear with him in glory.
Such we believe to have been the great primary object of this interesting event. How full of consolation and encouragement must it appear in this important view to every believer who is still struggling with the infirmities and trials of his earthly pilgrimage. It directs the attention of such to the crown of righteousness that awaits him, and says, “Be ye stedfast, immoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord; forasmuch as ye know that your labour is not in vain in the Lord.”
FOOTNOTE:
[Y] From a scriptural small work, with the style and spirit of which we are much pleased, “The Transfiguration,” an exposition of Matt. xvii. i. 8, by the rev. Daniel Bagot, B.D., minister of St. James’ chapel, Edinburgh, and chaplain to the right hon. the earl of Kilmorry. Edinburgh, Johnstone: London, Whittaker, Nisbet: Dublin, Curry, jun., Robertson.