MARK 9:1-13

MARK 9:1-13

MARK 9:1-8 - “He was transfigured before them.” The transcendent glory of His Deity shone out through the veil of His flesh, thus changing His appearance in such a way as to fill His disciples with amazement and impressing them with a sense of His mysterious personality.

“White as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them.” His very garments appeared to be etherealized, and glowed with a brilliancy such as no worker in linen or other material used for apparel could produce. The word rendered “fuller” originally meant a dresser of skins, or hides, but came to be applied in a wider sense, as indicated above.

 “Elias and Moses … were talking with Jesus.” These worthies had been in paradise for many centuries. They were living, conscious, and capable of conversing with the Lord and with one another. They stand as the representatives of the Law and the Prophets, and also of two classes of believers, those who will die before the Lord returns and those who will be caught up (or raptured) when that event takes place (John 11:25, 26).

 This beautiful and inspiring picture of the coming kingdom is worthy of the most careful examination. Consider the various characters and note how they picture the different persons or groups who will have their place at the revelation of Jesus Christ. First of all, we see Him manifested in His glory as the Center of all the Father’s counsels. Then we have the two men who talked with Him of that which shall be the theme of our praise forever, His death (Luke 9:31), which is the foundation of all our blessing (Rev. 5:9). These are archetypal men, as we have seen. Moses had died long before, but he appeared as in his resurrection body. In this he represents all who will die before Christ’s return, but who will hear His voice when He descends from heaven, and be raised in incorruptible bodies (1 Cor. 15:52). Elijah had been taken up to heaven without passing through death, and so he becomes the representative of all who will be “alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord” (1 Thess. 4:15), who will never die at all, but will be changed in a moment and caught up to meet the Lord in the air. At His revelation in glory all these will be manifested with Him. They form the heavenly side of the kingdom. On the earth there will be saints in their natural bodies. These are represented by the three apostles who beheld the glory, but were themselves still in bodies of flesh and blood. They were all of Israel, and these will be the first to enter into the kingdom when set up on earth. The nations that have been torn and rent by Satanic power will then find deliverance, and so enter into that reign of peace and righteousness. This is suggested by what took place at the foot of the mountain.

MARK 9:9-13 - They understood then that He was referring to John the Baptist. John’s ministry was Elijah-like. He came denouncing sin and calling the people to repentance, that thus they might be in condition to receive Messiah when He appeared. Elsewhere we are told that Jesus said, “If ye will receive it, this is Elias, which was for to come” (Matt. 11:14). John the Baptist was not received by all, and his ministry did not have the effect it should have had upon the entire nation because of their unbelief. Some would suggest that there is yet to be a further fulfillment of Malachi’s prophecy, and that in the days of the great tribulation, after the rapture of the Church, another Elijah-like minister will be raised up of God to prepare the remnant of Israel to receive the Anointed One. This may indeed be true.