Why Moses and
Elijah? Because they are representative of those who are caught
up to God (Jude 9; 2 Kings 2:11).
More specifically, Moses represents those who die and go to
glory, and Elijah represents those who are caught up to heaven
without death (as in
1 Thessalonians 4:13-18).
Also because
they are representative of the Law (Moses) and the Prophets
(Elijah); the sum of Old Testament revelation comes to meet with
Jesus at the Mount of Transfiguration.
Moses and Elijah also figure together in
prophecy; they are likely the witnesses of
Revelation 11:3-13.
Peter's
equating Jesus with Moses and Elijah is dramatically rebuked by
a voice from the Shekinah glory of God
4) Peter said to Jesus, "Lord, it is good
for us to be here. If you wish, I will put up three
shelters--one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah."
5) While he was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them,
and a voice from the cloud said, "This is my Son, whom I love;
with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"
Mark (9:6) and
Luke (9:33) point out that Peter didn't know what he was saying
when he said this; but the effect of his words was to put Jesus
on an equal level with Moses and Elijah, building equal shrines
for each of them.
The Father,
from heaven, rebukes this; Jesus is unique, My beloved Son - He
deserves our special attention, so Hear Him!
This clearly
puts Jesus above the Law and the Prophets; He is not merely
another (or even better) law giver or prophet, He is the only
begotten Son.
“Bright
cloud”: The Shekinah Glory. The cloud that followed them by day
and the pillar of fire at night in the wilderness wanderings.
Seen on Mount Sinai. It is the presence of the glory of God that
inhabits the Holy of Holies of the Temple. This cloud that
overshadows Him here, ultimately takes Him up in the ascension
(Acts 1:9). “Voice” is an authentication. Very reminiscent of
the Baptism. Here it sets Peter straight, as while there are
three personages here on the hill, they are by no means equal.
What does it
all mean? See 2 Peter 1:16-20. Peter here alerts you to the fact
that there is something about Matt 17 that has not only to do
with the glory of Jesus Christ, but also His Second Coming.
The Holy
Spirit is showing us the Lord in glory and also building for us
a model of His Kingdom.
Why Moses and
Elijah?
Luke 9:27.
What we are seeing is not only the glory of Jesus Christ, but
also a staff meeting. They are discussing the redemption,
specifically His departure from Jerusalem.
Two
suggestions: These two men characterize two different things:
The Law and The Prophets. The Law came by Moses; the Prophet
Elijah was a uniquely empowered prophet. Other prophets were
powerful in their writings but, Elijah called down fire from
heaven, shut the rain off for 3 ½ years! Mentioned by our Lord
(Luke 4:25) and his brother James (Jas 5:17).
Another
distinction between them that is provocative—Moses died! In
Moses we can typify the dead in Christ that are saved. Elijah
did not die, he was translated. So he can typify those that are
at the throne without having tasted death (the “rapture,” those
that were translated without death).
The disciples
react with a holy fear
6) When the
disciples heard this, they fell facedown to the ground,
terrified. 7) But Jesus came and touched them. "Get up," he
said. "Don't be afraid." 8) When they looked up, they saw no one
except Jesus.
The disciples react in the way most people
do when the encounter God in such a close way, or hear His voice
from heaven (Exodus
20:18-19;
Isaiah 6:5;
Revelation 1:17). Encountering a holy
God is never a light, frivolous thing; the easy manner in which
some recount their "meetings" with God betrays their shallow
understanding of who God is.
However, we can compare the reaction of
the disciples with how we, if abiding, can appear before Jesus:
And now, little children, abide in Him, that when He appears, we
may have confidence and not be ashamed before Him at His coming
(1
John 2:28) - what an incredible work
of grace this is, to give us such confidence.
The purpose of
the Transfiguration: to reassure the disciples
Note the
context: Jesus had been revealing His humiliation and sufferings
to them; it makes sense that they receive another divine
testimony to Jesus' Sonship at this time.
This event truly impressed the disciples
with Jesus' glory; Peter mentions it later in
1 Peter 1:16-18.
The problem of
Elijah coming first
9) As they
were coming down the mountain, Jesus instructed them, "Don't
tell anyone what you have seen, until the Son of Man has been
raised from the dead."
10) The disciples asked him, "Why then do the teachers of the
law say that Elijah must come first?"
11) Jesus replied, "To be sure, Elijah comes and will restore
all things. 12) But I tell you, Elijah has already come, and
they did not recognize him, but have done to him everything they
wished. In the same way the Son of Man is going to suffer at
their hands." 13) Then the disciples understood that he was
talking to them about John the Baptist.
The disciples had heard that Elijah must
come, according to
Malachi 4:5: Behold, I will send you
Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful
day of the Lord.
Jesus reassures the disciples that Elijah
will indeed come first; but this coming of Jesus' does not bring
the great and dreadful day of the Lord; instead, the Malachi 4:5
coming of Elijah is probably best identified with the appearance
of the two witnesses of
Revelation 11:3-13.
Yet, there is also a sense in which Elijah
has come already, in the work of John the Baptist, who
ministered in Elijah's spirit and power (Luke
1:17).
In Revelation
11 Verses 3-14 describe an episode. Who are these two witnesses?
Three
different people were prophesied to come:
-
Messiah:
Malachi 3:1-3, 5, 6;
-
Elijah:
Malachi 4:5, 6 (last words in OT);
-
Moses:
Deuteronomy 18:15-19.
Two ministries
unfinished:
Given 4
powers:
-
Power to
shut the heaven that it rain not (Elijah; 1 Kings 17:1; Luke
4:25; James 5:17);
-
Fire from
heaven (Elijah: 1 Kings 18:37; 2 Kings 1:10, 12; Jeremiah
5:14);
-
Water to
blood (Moses: Exodus 7:19);
-
Plagues
(Moses: Exodus 8-12).
All the
elements of the future Kingdom are here in Matthew 17. We have
Jesus in glory, not His humiliation. Moses is in glory, also
radiant and shinning, he represents the redeemed through death
(Matthew 13:43; Luke 9:30-34). Elijah is there in glory, and he
represents those that have entered the kingdom through the
translation or rapture (1 Corinthians 15:50-51; 1 Thessalonians
4:13 17). If that is the case who is Peter, James and John? They
are Israel or the remnant in the flesh, the 12 apostles will
rule over the 12 tribes (Ezekiel 37:21-27).
After they
came down from the mountain, the multitude at the foot of the
mountain might be those who were brought into the kingdom after
it is established as is described (Isaiah 11:10-12).
Jesus casts
out a difficult demon from a boy
A demon too
tough for the disciples to handle
14) When they came to the crowd, a man
approached Jesus and knelt before him. 15) "Lord, have mercy on
my son," he said. "He has seizures and is suffering greatly. He
often falls into the fire or into the water. 16) I brought him
to your disciples, but they could not heal him."
This
particular boy's epileptic symptoms were demonic in origin,
though this certainly could not be said about every case of
epilepsy then or today.
Sometimes
Jesus' followers fail - but Jesus never does; the man is wise
for going straight to Jesus when His followers have failed.
There are "ranks" of demonic powers (Ephesians
6:12), and evidently, some demons are
stronger (more stubborn, resistant) than others; this one was
more difficult than others the disciples had dealt with under
Jesus' instructions (Matthew
10:8).
Jesus easily
casts the demon out
17) "O unbelieving and perverse
generation," Jesus replied, "how long shall I stay with you? How
long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy here to me." 18)
Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was
healed from that moment.
19) Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why
couldn't we drive it out?"
20) He replied, "Because you have so little faith. I tell you
the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can
say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there' and it will
move. Nothing will be impossible for you."
Jesus laid the
inability of the disciples to cast the demon out at their
unbelief; to be successful in casting out demons, there must be
a reliance (faith) on the One who has total authority over the
demons.
Because the
object of faith is key, a little faith can accomplish great
things; but great faith can accomplish still greater things.
We show our
faith in and reliance on God through prayer and fasting; it
displays an occupation with and dependence on Jesus. Great
prayer and fasting also display an earnestness before God that
brings answer to prayer; often, we pray dispassionately, almost
asking God to care about things we care nothing about .
We must be
willing to go far in breaking demonic dominion; if the devil
knows you will give up easily, then it won't be much of a fight.
God is looking for steadfast warriors who are willing to
sacrifice and fight until the battle is won.
Jesus and
taxes
Jesus reminds
His disciples about His future sufferings
22) When they
came together in Galilee, he said to them, "The Son of Man is
going to be betrayed into the hands of men. 23) They will kill
him, and on the third day he will be raised to life." And the
disciples were filled with grief.
Though they were frequent, these reminders
about Jesus' suffering and resurrection were forgotten by the
disciples until after His resurrection (Luke
24:6-8).
Time to pay
the temple tax
24) After
Jesus and his disciples arrived in Capernaum, the collectors of
the two-drachma tax came to Peter and asked, "Doesn't your
teacher pay the temple tax?"
25) "Yes, he does," he replied.
When Peter came into the house, Jesus was the first to speak.
"What do you think, Simon?" he asked. "From whom do the kings of
the earth collect duty and taxes--from their own sons or from
others?"
26) "From others," Peter answered.
Peter answers
unthinkingly; Jesus, knowing what had happened, explains that He
is not liable to pay this tax, because the Father doesn't
require it of His own Son.
Jesus is
asking who pays tribute, the residents or the tourists. Some
scholars believe that this is a tribute for the Temple. Exodus
30 talks of ransom money for the soul. The firstborn of every
household had to be redeemed. It is questionable whether these
are linked. Other scholars believe this money was to be raised
from the strangers not the locals.
But Jesus pays
the tax anyway, and by miraculous provision
27) "Then the
sons are exempt," Jesus said to him. "But so that we may not
offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the
first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a
four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and
yours."
It must have
been rather humbling for Peter to fish in this manner;
professional fishermen like him used nets, and didn't waste time
catching fish one at a time.
There is a
species of fish, indigenous to the Sea of Galilee that has the
characteristic that they pick up bright things off the bottom
and carry them in the mouth. Locally, they now call this fish
“St. Peter’s Fish.”
St. Peter's
Fish
Three types of
fish were primarily sought by fishermen in antiquity in these
waters. Sardines like were the "two small fish" that the boy
brought to the feeding of the 5000. Sardines and bread was the
staple product of the locals. Barbels are so known because of
the barbs at the corners of their mouths. The third type is
called musht but is more popularly known today as "St. Peter's
Fish. This fish has a long dorsal fin which looks like a comb
and can be up to 1.5 feet long and 3.3 lbs in weight.
Jesus used the
fish as a method to demonstrate to Peter that He was the Lord of
Creation. He clearly was not subject to this tax.
Jesus did pay
His taxes (not out of obligation before God but out of a desire
to not offend) but He did not pay any more than He had to!
Chapter
18
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