Transfiguration of Jesus: A Commentary on the Multiple Old Testament Layers in the Transfiguration

[Music] hi everybody and welcome to this week's episode of reading the gospels through hebrew eyes we're going to be taking a look at the transfiguration of jesus we're going to mainly focus on mark's account we're also going to take some side trips into matthew as well as luke's version of the transfiguration what all three of these gospel writers do is they they reach back into israel's past into everything from mount sinai to the elijah narratives to daniel and ezekiel and they're pulling all of this old testament material into this particular account in the gospels and they're also reaching forward to the eschaton to the end and they're bringing the glory of god that's going to be manifest to the body of jesus for the whole world to see they're bringing that on to the mount of transfiguration as well so what is happening is is the past and the future are being brought together in this one climactic moment as jesus shows his disciples who he really is and it's confirmed by the voice that speaks from the cloud so needless to say to understand the gospel we need to reach back with the evangelist into the old testament and see all of the illusions and echoes that are there that are going to shed light on this gospel account so we're going to work our way verse by verse detail by detail through this account in order to dig down through these various layers to see how much depth and richness of the old testament is embedded within this particular narrative let's start with the opening two verses this is mark chapter nine after six days jesus took with him peter and james and john and led them up a high mountain by themselves and he was transfigured before them and his clothes became radiant intensely white as no one on earth could bleach them okay notice right away we have a time reference it says after six days this happened now if we go back in the old testament and think of mountains and glory and clouds and all of this where else do we find six days we find it in exodus chapter 24. moses went up on the mountain the cloud cover the mountain the glory of the lord dwelt on mount sinai and the cloud covered it six days and on the seventh day god called to moses out of the midst of the cloud so we have the cloud we have the mountain and then we have god's speech when following these six days the same thing that we're about to discover on the mount of transfiguration we also have these two or three witnesses peter james and john jesus does not go onto the mountain alone nor does he take a whole bunch of people he takes with him three why well for a couple of reasons number one when moses goes on to mount sinai he doesn't go alone he goes with joshua his servant another time he goes with aaron another time he goes with the elders of israel but he always has these witnesses with him same thing here in fact if you think about it what's happening now is that the new joshua the new yehoshua jesus is going up onto the mountain and now he's going to converse with the old moses at this transfiguration and then secondly throughout the old testament especially in deuteronomy we have the necessity of two or three witnesses to give witness to whatever the event might be we had this also addressed in the new testament as well so the two or three witnesses are there peter james and john in order that they might see and then later testify to what they have observed then where do they go well they go onto a mountain and anytime we hear mountains our old testament mind kicks in we think of all these mountaintops where god spoke or revealed himself or did something big in israel's history just quick run down of these mount moriah that's where isaac is nearly sacrificed that's where david builds his altar and that's where solomon will build the temple mount horeb and mount sinai of course huge in israel's history you have the burning bush you have the giving of the covenant you have these theophanies these appearances to god to moses appearances of god to moses to israel to elijah yeah mount hor where aaron dies you have mount gerizim about evil mount nebo we have mount hermon mount zion mountain after mountain where something significant in the life of israel is happening so needless to say when jesus takes these disciples onto a mountaintop we are expecting something big to happen and of course that is precisely what we get but it's not just a mountain it's a it's it's described as a high mountain and why is that well a couple of different reasons for one if you go back to the book of isaiah chapter 40 verse 9 we have get yourself on a high mountain same greek in the septuagint that is used in mark's gospel get yourself up on a high mountain o zion bearer of good news that's a word from which we get gospel word from which we get evangelist so bearer of good news lift up your voice mightily o jerusalem bearer of good news evangelist lift it up do not fear say to the cities of judah here is your god so what happens on this mountaintop according to isaiah chapter 40 you have this zion jerusalem this evangelist who goes on a high mountain to proclaim the good news and what is that good news here is your god we'll think about that in connection with the mount of transfiguration jesus is bringing three witnesses who will see this who will later testify as they evangelize behold here is your god the person of jesus of nazareth is the god of israel secondly if you compare what happens in matthew's account of the temptation with matthew's account of the transfiguration you're going to see a tie-in here multiple tie-ins for one the devil takes jesus with him onto a high mountain in the temptation account same greek verb that's used in the temptation account is used in the transfiguration account of jesus taking with him peter james and john and the devil takes jesus to a high mountain and jesus takes his disciples to a high mountain the greek verb and the greek description of the high mountain are exactly the same both the temptation account and the transfiguration account end with the word alone jesus tells the devil that we are to serve god alone and the disciples see jesus alone again the same greek language is used there thirdly on this mountain on this mount of transfiguration we learn that we are to bow down and worship before jesus because he is god's son the one in whom god is well pleased the one whom we are to listen to again that is the same kind of language that is used in the baptism of jesus directly before his temptation account so you have god speaking to jesus as baptism and then you have the temptation account and now you have god going up onto a mountain and then you have god speaking at this point so we are intended to to see in the temptation account the revelation of god god revelation of god's son as the obedient faithful israelite and the obedient faithful adam who is keeping god's law for humanity and then on the mount of transfiguration we learn that this same obedient man of israel is in fact the son of god he's the one who is revealed to have the glory of god within him because he is not just a man but he is also the divine son so a lot of pretty insightful parallels between you compare the the temptation account of matthew with the transfiguration account in matthew now we get to his transfiguration which is a a latin-derived word in greek it would be his metamorphosis so the greek verb that is used here for his transfiguration which only matthew and mark lose luke doesn't use the language of transfiguration but matthew and mark both use the same greek verb they say that he is metamorph metamorpha from which of course we get our english word metamorphosis or metamorphosized this probably by the way happened at night we learned from luke's account of the transfiguration that the disciples were asleep right before this happened it's probably a long hike up the mountain they would have stayed there darkness fell upon them and while it was dark is when he was metamorphosized before them which when you think about it gives extra color to the scene because you think of this this glowing white body of jesus well that would have been stunning during the daytime we'll just imagine what it would have looked like at night so probably have this theophany happening under the cover of darkness making it even more brilliant to the eyes of the disciples matthew mark luke and john each describe this event in different ways matthew says that his face shone like the sun he also says his clothing became white as light mark says his clothing was radiant intensely white like nobody on earth could ever bleach them and then luke adds that while jesus was praying the appearance of his face was altered and his clothing became dazzling white now why would you why would you have these kind of descriptions why would matthew and mark and luke each describe this in the way that they do because there are several tie-ins between what happens to jesus and what happened to old testament figures as well as how god himself is described the most obvious of these is that in exodus 34 the face of moses when he came down off the mountain was glowing so that he would have to veil his face why was it glowing because he had been conversing with the holy one of god on the mountaintop and so the radiance the brilliance of god had impacted the face of moses so much that it was shining forth with this divine radiance now here you have god there you here you have the son of god he is radiating this same brilliance of divinity not in a lunar sort of way it's not as if the glory is reflected from jesus but in a solar sort of way it looks as if jesus has swallowed the sun and the light and the brilliance of his divinity is shining forth through his body it's not so much jesus it's not that jesus is changed jesus is not transfigured or metamorphosized in the in the sense that something new happens to him the metamorphosis or the transfiguration is that the disciples peter james and john are now witnesses of exactly who jesus is they are given eyes to see exactly who he has been all along there's a couple of other tie-ins with the old testament as well the man on god's throne in ezekiel's vision was like glowing metal and fire the ancient of days and daniel's vision has clothing as white as snow and his hair is pure like wool and not so now you have jesus looking like the ancient of days the sun looking like the father in other words and then psalm 104 verse 2 says that god covers himself with light as with a garment all of which testifies to the fact that this man who is standing before them is not just a man he is fully divine he is the son of the father next you have this incredible visitation by two old testament individuals moses and elijah mark says there appeared to them elijah with moses and they were talking with jesus now there's a whole lot of old testament figures that god could have brought onto the mountaintop but he brings moses and he brings elijah why is that why those two sometimes you'll hear because moses represents the law and elijah represents the prophets okay but i think there's something else going on and here's what i think is happening these two are brought because both of them have a very close tie with mount sinai with the theophany that happens there and with god's speech this happened to moses that happens with elijah and now you have another mountaintop with a theophany and divine speech they both also have very unusual departures from this world elijah of course is taken up in the fiery chariot he doesn't even die and then moses he dies but god buries him nobody knows where his grave is so an unusual departure from this world and then thirdly elijah especially formed part of the end time expectations of first century jews they thought elijah was going to come before the messiah did which of course is based on the book of malachi so it makes sense for moses and elijah to be there with jesus talking with him now what were they talking about you might be asking yourself matthew doesn't tell us mark doesn't tell us luke does tell us luke says that they spoke of his departure which he was about to accomplish at jerusalem the greek for departure is the word from which we get exodus they were talking about his exodus that he was to accomplish in jerusalem why was that because throughout the old testament especially beginning in books like isaiah and then continuing in jeremiah and hosea and elsewhere you have this promise of a of an exodus that's connected with the coming of the messiah when the messiah shows up a new exodus happens an exodus that's going to be greater than the exodus of old because god is going to gather his people not just from egypt but from north south east west and bring them home to himself and not just his people israel but the nations as well there's a cosmopolitan exodus as god gathers the lost children back to himself that's what jesus is going to accomplish in jerusalem how because he is the representative human he is going to go into exile himself into the grave through the cross and then he's going to come out of the grave he's going to come back from this death exile in order that he might bring all humanity back to the father that's what's happening in jerusalem and that's how jesus affects this worldwide exodus and that is what moses and elijah are talking with him about they're talking with him moses in particular is talking about the exodus is gonna that's gonna fulfill the exodus that moses himself brought the israelites on and by the way side note in it kind of cool moses finally gets to the promised land he's finally there with jesus he's finally crossed the jordan and he has reached the promised land there with there with jesus next what happens well peter kind of interrupts the conversation and he has a suggestion peter said to jesus rabbi it is good that we are here let's make three tents one for you one for moses one for elijah for he did not know what to say for they were terrified and then luke adds that peter was not knowing what he said well of course he didn't know what he said at least he didn't know the full impact of what he said and he didn't understand perhaps the full implications of what he was suggesting throughout this particular narrative you have all sorts of tabernacle imagery that's used the cloud the glory god speaking the the exodus illusions all of which are connected with the tabernacle now peter says let's build three tents or three tabernacles probably what peter had in mind was something connected to the feast of sukkot the feast of booths which happened in the fall that was the third major festival of the jews in which they would come to jerusalem they would live in these temporary shelters to imitate to commemorate when their ancestors lived in tents and in temporary shelters as they journeyed out of egypt to the promised land so peter is as it were wanting to celebrate a miniature feast of sukkot on the mount of transfiguration what he doesn't realize what he doesn't he doesn't know what he's talking about because as it turns out you don't need three tabernacles there's only one tabernacle that's needed and as we're about to see it's the body of jesus the messiah he is the one tabernacle that is needed and let's get to that now mark 9 7 8 continues a cloud overshadowed them and a voice came out of the cloud this is my beloved son listen to him and suddenly looking around they no longer saw anyone with them but jesus only now you think of clouds in the old testament and you automatically think of the divine presence because there's clouds all over the place in the old testament narratives that are connected with the appearance of god just a very quick rundown of these in the book of exodus god leads israel by the pillar of cloud you have the glory cloud appearing you have god descending on mount sinai in a thick cloud when moses goes up on mount sinai a cloud covers envelops the mountain when the tabernacle is completed at the end of exodus the glory cloud covers and descends and fills the tabernacle isaiah in chapter 4 predicts that a cloud and fire will cover zion in ezekiel's opening vision he sees a great cloud with fire flashing out of it so all kinds of appearances of god connect with clouds so when you're reading the old testament when you see clouds you don't really think of rain you think of the appearance of god so when this cloud shows up on mounts on on the mount of transfiguration you know that god is there god is filling the new tabernacle the body of jesus his son then he speaks and when god speaks he compresses so much into this short speech we've talked before about the literary technique called metalepsis where a new testament author will quote a phrase or a word from the old testament and you're intended to go back and find that and put these side by side and read them in in unison well we have multiple occurrences of metalepsis in god's speech let's run quickly through those first of all he says this is my son that's the language of psalm 2. psalm 2 is the coronation of the messiah as the king of the nations and god says to him you are my son same greek in the septuagint that's used here in mark's account of the transfiguration my beloved well that's an echo of genesis chapter 22 verse 2 where isaac is described as the beloved son of abraham then mark doesn't have this but matthew adds the phrase with whom i am well pleased which is highly significant that takes us back to isaiah chapter 42. it's one of the servant songs god says behold my servant whom i uphold my chosen one in whom my soul delights he delights in this servant he's pleased with this servant the servant whom as we will hear later on is the same servant of isaiah 53 the crucifixion servant and then finally he says listen to him you can kind of see moses in the background nodding his head like yup listen to him because moses predicted the coming of this prophet in deuteronomy 18 there's this prophet like moses that the people are to listen to well here he is so what has god just done god has taken everything from the language of psalm 2 to the language of genesis 22 in isaiah all over the place he's compressed this into this one speech which as you probably realize echoes what he said at the baptism of jesus so these are two pillars that hold up our understanding of who jesus is his baptism and now his transfiguration god speaks in both of these that this is his son the one whom we are to listen to the one in whom he is well pleased the one whom we are to follow now let me end on one note if you look at what happens in the rest of mark's gospel after this particular transfiguration account jesus comes down off the mountain with his disciples they have a little give and take about elijah and so on and so forth but when they get down off the mountain what they encounter is an unbelieving generation of israelites so there's the there's a man who brings his son who is suffering from a spirit and his the disciples of jesus who have been at the foot of the mountain can't do anything about it and what does jesus say in mark 9 19 he says o faithless generation how long am i to be with you how long am i to bear with you now if you look at what happens there in connection with what happened in the book of exodus what did moses encounter when he came down off the mountain after being in the cloud and hearing god speak and seeing god's glory he encountered the faithless generation of his people who had constructed the golden calf and engaged in idolatrous worship while he was gone so once more we see in the very structure of the gospel how jesus is using as a pattern the life of moses in the lives of others in the old testament because he's the one who's come to fill them to the full to fulfill their life and their ministry in his messianic ministry okay well that is i know a whole lot to throw at you the truth is we could probably spend at least another twice this amount of time three times this amount of time digging into everything that is in the transfiguration account but this is at least a very good start a very good foundation upon which to build and i hope that it's helped to fill in the gaps to to read between the lines of all the old testament stuff that's happening in the transfiguration account and primarily hopefully it's given you a better understanding of exactly who the messiah is the one who comes from the father who is divine with the father who's showing us his glory the very glory that he had before the foundation of the world the glory is going to be revealed fully to all creation when he comes again so the past and the future come together in the present moment of the transfiguration i hope it's been helpful to you if it has please share it and thank you all for all your encouragement thank you for watching every week and i pray god's richest blessings upon each of you we will see you next week

Channel: 1517

Views: 9,104

Keywords: Bible, Christianity, Jesus, Messiah, Old Testament Background of New Testament, Old Testament, Hebrew Bible, Intertextuality, Torah, Gospels, Hermeneutics, Hebrew, Chad Bird, Lutheran, Lectionary Exegesis, Lectionary Preaching, Christ in the Old Testament, Metalepsis, Transfiguration, Transfiguration of Jesus, Matthew 17, Mark 9, Luke 9, Epiphany, Moses, Elijah, Cloud of Glory, Psalm 2, Book of Daniel

Id: J-LMAP1P7D0

Length: 23min 33sec (1413 seconds)

Published: Mon Feb 08 2021