A Mountaintop Vision

“About eight days later Yeshua took Peter, James and John up on a mountain to pray. And as He was praying, the appearance of His Face was transformed and His clothes became dazzling white. Then two men, Moses and Elijah, appeared and began talking with Yeshua. They were glorious to see. And they were speaking about His exodus from this world, which was about to be fulfilled in Jerusalem. Peter and the others had fallen asleep. When they woke up, they saw Yeshua’s glory and the two men standing with Him. As Moses and Elijah were starting to leave, Peter, not even knowing what he was saying, blurted out, ‘Master, it’s wonderful for us to be here! Let’s make three shelters as memorials; one for You, one for Moses and one for Elijah.’ But even as he was saying this, a cloud came over them and terror gripped them as the cloud covered them. Then a voice from the cloud said, ‘this is My Son, My Chosen One. Listen to Him.’ 

When the voice finished, Yeshua was there alone. They didn’t tell anyone at that time what they had seen. The next day, after they had come down the mountain, a large crowd met Yeshua. A man in the crowd called out to Him, ‘Teacher, I beg you to look at my son, my only child. An evil spirit keeps seizing him, making him scream. It throws him into convulsions so that he foams at the mouth. It batters him and hardly ever leaves him alone. I begged your disciples to cast out the spirit, but they couldn’t do it.’ ‘You faithless and corrupt people,’ Jesus said, ‘how long must I be with you and put up with you?’ Then He said to the man, ‘bring your son here.’ As the boy came forward, the demon knocked him to the ground and threw him into a violent convulsion. But Yeshua rebuked the evil spirit and healed the boy. Then He gave him back to his father. Awe gripped the people as they saw this majestic display of YAHVEH’s power.” (Luke 9:28--43) (Also read Exodus 34:29--35; Psalm 99; 2 Corinthians 3:12--4:2)

After Peter’s confession at Caesarea Philippi, Yeshua took three of His disciples, Peter, James and John and went up a mountain to pray. This mountain was most likely Mount Hermon, which is only about fourteen miles from Caesarea Philippi. Yeshua and His disciples climbed to one of the slopes or to the top and the hard climb or the lateness of the hour caused the disciples to fall asleep while Yeshua was praying. They awoke to see Yeshua in a “glorified” state. Luke says He was transfigured before them. The Greek word translated as “transfigured” is more literally “metamorphosed,” which indicated a radical change in the whiteness of His garments and the brightness and aura of His presence. The disciples saw Moses and Elijah with Yeshua in this transfiguration. All of this was terrifying to the disciples.

I.) What was the impact of this story for Yeshua? I think that the transfiguration was first of all an affirmation of Yeshua’s ministry.It was YAHVEH’s stamp of approval on Yeshua’s understanding of His ministry. The voice of YAHVEH from the cloud declared, “this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” Moses and Elijah were servants, but Yeshua was called “My beloved Son.” The message was clear. Here was one who was greater than the lawgiver Moses and greater than Elijah, the noted prophet, who appeared with Yeshua. Luke says that Moses and Elijah discussed the departure of Yeshua. The
Greek word translated as “departure” can be translated “exodus.” What they were discussing was the exodus of Yeshua. Moses had led Israel in the Exodus; now Yeshua HaMashiach was soon to begin a new exodus; a new covenant, a new relationship with YAHVEH. The mystical transfiguration was also a witness and encouragement to Yeshua’s disciples. At first they were terrified. They didn’t know what to make of this vision with these two historic figures and Yeshua in a glorified state. The strange voice from a cloud also left them stunned. Later the disciples would reflect on what they had seen and write about it in 2 Peter 1:16-18. They saw the glory of HaMashiach manifested in that moment on the mountain and on many other occasions. That mountaintop experience was to them an affirmation of who Yeshua was. Here YAHVEH affirmed in their minds that Yeshua was engaged in the work and ministry that YAHVEH planned for Him. This vision helped them understand their perception of Yeshua and His ministry.

II.) What then does this strange story mean for us today? I think it reminds us first of all to look up and find some time apart to meditate and pray. A lot of us go through life with heavy burdens of illness, grief, suffering and death. We all struggle to find a sure path through life. Some persons seek to escape through drugs or drink and try to run away from life and the burdens they have to bear. But they are soon controlled by them. We need to remember to focus on the power and presence of YAHVEH that is available to us. Yeshua our Adonai knew the importance of having a quiet time for prayer and meditation. If our Adonai knew that He had this need in His life, who are we to assume that we do not need to look up to find the available strength from YAHVEH? We all need someplace we can find quietness to sense the presence of YAHVEH. Several years ago at a deacons’ and elders retreats, many of the deacons and elders checked on the evaluation form that the high point of the retreat for them was the quiet time that they had in the morning. Some of them indicated that it was the first quiet time they had had for months or years. We all need some quiet time. Look up.

The disciples had such a marvellous experience on that mountaintop that they decided they wanted to make this meditative experience permanent. They wanted to prolong that wonderful experience.Peter said: “O Adonai, this has been wonderful. We have never had anything like this before. Let us build three tabernacles so we can have some way of making this permanent.” They wanted to hold on to that experience and make it immortal in some way. We all know that danger. We may have been at a retreat setting or some other place where we had some awe - inspiring experience and now we expect every other experience of worship in our life to be just like that one. We can’t let it go and put it in the past. We now judge everything by that one experience. We want to lounge on the altar. Or we may want to hold on to another type of experience by wanting our worship experience today to be like it was at some other place at some other time. We have difficulty adjusting, because we want to hang on to our past memories of worship and prolong what we once had. There is always a danger that we will try to build tabernacles and rest on past progress or experiences. “Let’s stop and build.” But Yeshua challenges us to move on.

III.) Yeshua calls us to find time to look up and meditate, but we also have to look around us and respond to the needs of others. Find time to meditate. Look around you and see the human needs that are there. Then arise from your meditation and look to HaMashiach for direction in your life. That’s the assurance we have too, today. Look ahead. No matter what is in front of us, YAHVEH is already there. YAHVEH is there to help us and guide us along life’s path. Let us see “only Yeshua” as our guiding light. The transfiguration was a frightening experience for the disciples. But after they heard the voice from the cloud and were terrified, they looked up and “saw Yeshua only.” This truth is a central thrust of the New Testament. Yeshua is the focus of YAHVEH’s revelation for us. HaMashiach is the centre of our proclamation. He is the central focus of the Christian faith. He is the one through whom we see YAHVEH. We don’t have merely a philosophy or a system about YAHVEH. We focus on what YAHVEH has done in and through the person of Yeshua HaMashiach. Our primary focus in our faith is not on “what” we believe but in “whom” we believe.

You and I have committed our faith in allegiance to a person; Yeshua HaMashiach. The disciples could have gone away seeing only Moses. They could have been convinced, as many are that law is the principal guidance for life. Others may have gone away seeing just Elijah, the prophet. These would have believed that the basic answer is revolution and change. Both of these are important. There are times that we need to hear the words of the law and commandments. There are other times when we need to hear the words of prophecy, revolution and change. With Yeshua HaMashiach as our central focus however, we hear those essential strains, but we also know that there are times to hear words of comfort, support, encouragement, hope, forgiveness or salvation. When we focus on Yeshua HaMashiach as Adonai, this central figure guides in the way that is essential for us in that moment. We need to look up and sense the presence of YAHVEH in our worship. We look up to Him for a presence to sustain us daily. Then we look down to the needs of those around us who are hurting. We have been called to minister to hurting humanity around us. Then look ahead to the HaMashiach who is calling you to follow Him wherever He leads you. Remember He will be there to sustain you.