Archive for September, 2015
MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION(Pt. 3)
Mark is believed to have recorded the apostle Peter’s eye witness account of the Lord Jesus. In Mark Chapter 9, Peter, James and John accompany him up the Mountain, in part, because there would be the need to have a full,verifiable witness. Scripturally, “In the mouth of two or three witnesses every word must be established. The apostle Peter’s explanation of what occured was no fanciful imagination gone wild. They were not hallucinating , they were eye witnesses. They, personally,saw that while Jesus was praying there on the mountain, heaven drew aside it’s curtain as it were and revealed another view of Jesus. They saw the natural, human side of him give way to the divine mystery of who he was,eternally. What had been a view of OUTSIDE-IN is now made known from an eternal reality, which is INSIDE-OUT.
GROWING IN HIM
For those who are growing in their walk with Jesus the Messiah this is the true order of things, “The natural things proceeds the spiritual things” only as an entry point into eternal reality. This, incidentally, is one of the reasons why we, who are followers of Jesus Christ, are not without hope when a loved one in Christ passes this life. We have the blessed hope of seeing our loved ones again. The apostle Paul assures us that, “To be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord”(2 Corinthians 5:8).
MOSES AND ELIJAH
Back to the Mountain where Jesus was transfigured. This stunning event was not without guests from heaven. Moses and Elijah appear and converse with Jesus. This startling event frightened the three apostles, causing them to be prostrate on the ground. We shouldn’t be surprised. After all, you don’t just come into the atmosphere of heaven and remain unmoved. We recall how Isaiah, the prophet, cried “Woe is me, I am undone!… I am in the presence of the thrice-holy God”(Isaiah 6). Saving for a Seraph flying with a blood soaked, burning coal from off the altar and touching his lips, he probably would have died on the spot! How casual the presence and the things of God have become today. Is it not a sign of our times? We have substituted ritual for worship, Wine for water in our formalism, head-knowledge for heart knowledge. Far too many of God’s houses know nothing more than “a form of godliness but deny its power” a place in their services, to which the apostle Paul admonishes, “And from such people turn away!”(2 Timothy 3:5).
Why Moses and Elijah? Both were very important in Israel’s history. God gave the Law(Teachings) to Moses to give to His people. It was a Covenantal document between God and His people, Israel. When they strayed away to worship the Baal God, the LORD GOD used Elijah to confront & call His people back to the true and living God(Read Malachi 4:4-6). But God also promised a New Covenant for Israel in which He would no longer write upon tablets of stones. Rather He would “take away the heart of stone…and give you a heart of flesh. I will put my Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes…Then you shall dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers; you shall be My people and I will be your God”(C.f. Ezekiel 36:26-28).
Peter astonished at this mountain top experience wants to place Jesus right alongside Moses and Elijah. He feels that he deserves to be in the same category as these two great servants of the LORD God of Israel(Moses representing the Law & Elijah representing the Prophets). And yet…at that moment, a cloud descends, and a voice from His excellent glory is heard, “This is my beloved Son, Hear Him! Suddenly, when they had looked around, they saw no one anymore, but only Jesus with themselves”(Mark 9:7-8). God had sent, in the form of Jesus of Nazareth, His final Word of salvation and deliverance for His people. His Son, Jesus the Messiah, was and is made available to all that will look to Him, all that would hear his voice, all that would trust and obey him. The apostle John later testified, recording his experience, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”(John 1:14 NKJV). If you hear His voice…Don’t harden your heart.
(C) Copyright 2015, Walter Fletcher Jr. All rights reserved. This article may to copied and shared free of charge, provided that it is not sold or altered in any way from its original content. Please address all correspondence to: Walterfletcherjr@gmail.com
MOUNT OF TRANSFIGURATION (Pt.2)
Jesus led his disciples Peter, James and John up the Mountain apart from the other disciples and there was transfigured. I’m reminded that the Lord God had once called Moses up to the top of the Mount. There, after six days of waiting in the cloud, he received an invitation to come into God’s presence. There, He received the two tablets of the Law. This should remind us that good things take place in the Lord’s presence, if we are prepared to wait on Him. Isaiah assures us, “They that wait on the LORD shall renew their strength”(Isaiah 40:31). The higher we go in God, the more time we need to wait in His presence. What happens while we wait? We learn the secret of exchanging our strength for His. Much weariness comes from “I got this one God” attitudes. We start many things in the arm of the flesh and they result as nothing more than a fleshly, carnal work. But if we will wait on the LORD, He will come to us with newness of LIFE and new perspectives on life as we have known it. The apostle Paul said we should “Seek those things which are above where CHRIST is seated” at the right hand of God(Colossians 3). Our seating changes our seeing.
As we wait in the Lord’s presence, the noise of the crowd dissipates. The sounds and often the many voices that clutter our minds and crowds our soul settle down to a manageable whisper. “Be still and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nation’s. I will be exalted in the earth”(Psalm 46:10). Recall how Elijah went to Mount Horeb, perhaps expecting God to boom at the fearful thoughts of Jezebel’s threats. But God did not come as he expected(Not in an earthquake, wind or fire). Just the gentile whisper of a still small voice (1 Kings 19). This is one reason why we should always take God’s Word with us into His presence. God will speak through His Word to our troubled heart. “Great peace have they who love your Law. And nothing shall cause them to stumble”(Psalm 119:165).
Finally, as we wait in His presence, we get a new view of our Lord Jesus Christ. Peter, James and John got a view of future attractions. All that our Lord Jesus was, eternally and inwardly, began to shine out in a blaze of glory. It radiated out of every pore of His being and changed the very garments which He wore. Peter will later testify that, “We were eyewitnesses of His majesty”(2 Peter 1:6). How we need to cry out for a new sense and awareness of His majesty as the King of glory. One view of eternal realities will transform our life forever. The mystery God held is now revealed; “Christ in you, the hope of glory”(Colossians 1:27).
(C) Copyright 2015, Walter Fletcher Jr. All rights reserved. This article may be copied and shared free of charge provided that it is not sold or altered in any way from its original content. Please address all correspondence to: Walterfletcherjr@gmail.com.
Mount of Transfiguration
“Now after six days Jesus took Peter, James and John, and led them up on a high mountain apart by themselves; and He was transfigured before them.”(Mark 9:2 NKJV)
Mark notes in his gospel account that this incident took place “after six days”. Six days after what? After the Lord Jesus had announced that death was going to be defeated and the kingdom of God would be seen with power by some alive among him. Obviously, they had no insight as to what he was talking about until after his death, burial and resurrection. This,by the way, is what made Jesus such a great Teacher. He would often punctuate his teachings regarding the kingdom of God with living illustrations.
Perhaps, Mark is hinting at God’s order in Creation. In Genesis, man was created on the sixth day and God rests from His labor on the Seventh day; indicating the completion of His work. Man was invited into a place of rest from the Beginning. And yet, due to his disobedience, his rest was broken through his Fall from his high and noble position with God. His punishment would be ultimate death. And he will work and labor now with effort and sweat to obtain what the earth would have yielded freely (Read Genesis Chapters 1-3). But God does not leave him without hope and a promise. “The seed of the woman will crush the head of the serpent”(Genesis 3:15). This was the first promise of Messiah who would come to save and redeem mankind. Later, the writer to the Hebrew Christians, alluding to Fall after Creation and the Hope of Redemption, wrote, “Therefore, since a promise remains of entering His rest, let us fear lest any of you seem to have come short of it. For indeed the gospel was preached to us as well as to them; but the word which they heard did not profit them, not being mixed with faith in those who heard it”(Hebrews 4:1-2 NKJV). Perhaps, the hint that Mark is giving us is that when Jesus led Peter,James and John up on the mount it was to indicate that something lost in Creation would soon be restored…Rest with God. No religious performance could give it. Only faith in Jesus Christ is required. The apostle Paul wrote, “Therefore, being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ…and rejoice in the hope of the glory of God”(See Romans 5:1-2). The writer to the Hebrew Christians wrote, “Today, if you will hear His voice, Do not harden your hearts”…There remains a rest for the people of God. For he who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His”(Hebrews 4:7,9-10 NKJV). Human effort apart from faith in Jesus Christ and His grace to live the life already gained for us is “a dead work”. Religion apart from God creates “sweat work”, boredom, fear and anxiety. Why? Because we will always offer something to God less than His best. Our religious efforts(apart from God’s grace) is, at best, our own sinful, weak performance to impress a holy God versus trusting His atoning (Paid in full by His blood) work through His Son, Jesus Christ. When we come to accept the free gift of heaven’s best we can truly rest.
Mark understood that Jesus was leading three of His apostles up higher to see and perceive the best that was soon to come. “Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and lean not to your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will direct your paths”(Proverbs 3:5-6 NKJV). The One who leads is the Way, The Truth and the Life.
(C) Copyright 2015, Walter Fletcher Jr. All rights reserved. This article may be copied and shared provided that is is not altered in any way from its original content. Please address all correspondence to: Walterfletcherjr@gmail.com
Messenger On The Bridge 