|
SUBJECT: The Transfiguration: Moses, Elijah and Jesus
Matthew 17—Mark 9 and Luke 9
QUESTION: Don’t these portions of scripture prove that
men go to heaven after death?
ANSWER:
No, they do not.
This is a common question. As a means of offering a
perspective, let us consider what man can do:
Humans have invented a number of technologies and practices
that portray people and events of the past. Let us look a
just a few.
1. Reenactments on stage
2. Photographs of the actual event
3. Documentary video of the event.
4. Live recording (video) of the event as it took place.
5. Home movies.
6. Movies, especially historically set movies.
7. Real-life exhibits of past or future events. Examples:
Titanic exhibits and Star Trek Experience exhibit.
8. Holograms--3 dimensional videos
9. Holidecks--an idea in science fiction now but deemed
possible by scientist in the future.
Man has been able to create, very convincingly in many
cases, images of real events or persons. With the new
technology of Holograms and Holidecks experts feel that your
mind will be absolutely convinced of what it is seeing. It
will be possible for you to actually be "present" at a real
event that was video taped with this technology and
processed into a Hologram. You will stand or sit while the
Hologram projection starts and you will witness the event as
if you were there. In some lab tests, this has already been
done.
Now project this out (if
time were to continue) and imagine what man will
be able to do in 100 more years of technology in this field.
Now if man can do this, imagine now what God can do. Is it
out of the question that God, with all the power in the
Universe, could create a very convincing 3 dimensional
vision that mortal men would think is real? I believe He
can and could.
Think about it for a moment. After we are all in the
Kingdom wouldn't you think it appropriate and probable that
God would show us the history of mankind in vision, the way
history really was? Don't you think that at Passover/Lord’s
Supper time, He would show us in vision, the actual
crucifixion? It seems, based on all the visions we read
about in the Bible, that God would continue this practice
and let us see what really took place in history and maybe
even what is going to happen in the future.
Now when Jesus took Peter, James and John to the high
mountain and they saw Moses and Elijah, was it a vision?
Notice Matthew 17:1-9. Now the event is described in verses
1-8 but when they are done and coming down from the
mountain, read verse 9...
Matthew 17:9
And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them,
saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be
risen again from the dead.
Note: See how He
says, "Tell the vision to no man". You can only conclude
that if Jesus, who was there and made it happen, calls it a
vision, then it must have been a vision. It seems almost
strange that man is willing to assume that God has enough
power to resurrect these two men and make them appear for a
while but does not have enough power to present a vision to
the witnesses. The following excerpt is taken from the
booklet, "Where are Enoch and Elijah" by Herman Hoeh:
Was Elijah on the Mount?
The only remaining texts that puzzle people are those
relative to the appearance of Moses and Elijah on the Mount
of Transfiguration with Jesus. The record of the event is
found in Matthew 17:1-9; Mark 9:2-10; Luke 9:28-36.
Leaving the mountain, Jesus told his disciples: "Tell the
vision to no man (Matthew 17:9)." A vision is not a material
reality but a supernatural picture observed by the eyes.
Moses died, and was buried (Deuteronomy 34:5-6). Both he and
Elijah were still dead in their graves, but in vision both
they and
Jesus were seen in the glory of the resurrection-an event to
which Moses and Elijah have not yet attained (Hebrews
11:39).
The vision was granted the disciples after Jesus had spoken
of the glory of immortality in the coming kingdom.
How plain the Bible is! Elijah is dead in the dust of the
earth awaiting the resurrection of the just. Elijah, some
years after being removed in the whirlwind, went to the
grave, but will rise again to live forevermore!
---end quote---
Notice also in Matthew 17:
In verse 5 a cloud appears and they hear a voice. In verse
6, they fall on their faces, eyes in the dirt...not
looking. In verse 8 they life up their eyes and Moses and
Elijah are gone. Where did they go? Answer: the vision
was ended.
Notice the commentary on Matthew 17:9
Matthew 17:9
And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them,
saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be
risen again from the dead.
[Tell the vision to no man]
This vision was designed particularly to confirm them in the
truth that he was the Messiah. While he was with them it was
unnecessary that they should relate what they had seen. When
he was crucified they would need this evidence that he was
the Christ. Then they were to use it. There were three
witnesses of it as many as the law required <Deuteronomy
17:6; Hebrews 10:28>, and the proof that he was the Messiah
was clear. Besides, if they had told it then, it would have
provoked the Jews and endangered his life. His time was not
yet come.
[Vision] Sight;
appearance. What they had seen on the mount.
[Charged them] Gave
them a commandment.
The sole design of this transfiguration was to convince them
that he was the Christ; that he was greater than the
greatest of the prophets; that he was the Son of God.
Mark adds <Mark 9:10>, "they kept that saying with
themselves, questioning one with another what the rising
from the dead should mean." The Pharisees believed that the
dead would rise, and there is no doubt that the disciples
believed it; but their views were not clear, and, in
particular, they did not understand what he meant by his
rising from the dead. They do not appear to have understood,
though he had told them <Mark 12:40> that he would rise
after three days. ~from
Barnes' Notes
Notice something else: This event is often referred to as
the "Transfiguration". Question is, who was transfigured?
Answer: Clearly the only one transfigured was Jesus. The
scripture also clearly indicates that the other two
"appeared". Read the scriptures:
Matthew 17:1-3
1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his
brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain
apart,
2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine
as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.
3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias
talking with him.
Note: Jesus was
transfigured in verse 2 and in verse 3 Moses and Elijah
appear. Notice the Strongs Concordance on the key word,
"transfigure":
3339 metamorphoo (met-am-or-fo'-o);
from 3326 and 3445; to transform (literally
or figuratively, "metamorphose"):
KJV-- change, transfigure, transform.
The verse does not specifically say that Moses or Elijah
were transfigured; only that they "appeared". A proper term
for a vision.
back to the top |