GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
He said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste death until they see God’s Kingdom come with power.”
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and brought them up onto a high mountain privately by themselves, and he was changed into another form in front of them.
Mark 9:1-2 sits inside this longer paragraph.
He said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste death until they see God’s Kingdom come with power.”
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and brought them up onto a high mountain privately by themselves, and he was changed into another form in front of them. His clothing became glistening, exceedingly white, like snow, such as no launderer on earth can whiten them. Elijah and Moses appeared to them, and they were talking with Jesus.
He said to them, “Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste death until they see God’s Kingdom come with power.”
After six days Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and brought them up onto a high mountain privately by themselves, and he was changed into another form in front of them.
And he sayde vnto them: Verely I saye vnto you: There be some of the that stonde here which shall not taste of deeth tyll they have sene the kyngdome of God come with power.
And after.vi. dayes Iesus toke Peter Iames and Iohn and leede them vp into an hye mountayne out of the waye alone and he was transfigured before them.
And he saide vnto them, Verely I say vnto you, that there be some of them that stande here, which shall not taste of death till they haue seene the kingdome of God come with power.
And sixe dayes after, Iesus taketh vnto him Peter, and Iames, and Iohn, and carieth them vp into an hie mountaine out of the way alone, and his shape was changed before them.
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1–2 When he shall begin his kingdom through the preaching…
When he shall begin his kingdom through the preaching of the Gospel: that is to say, after the resurrection.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–2 1 And he said unto them, Verily I say…
1 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.
Ver. 1. Shall not taste of death] Saints only taste of death; sinners are swallowed up of it, they are "killed with death," Rev 2:23. Whereas the righteous do mori vitaliter; death is to them neither total nor perpetual, Rom 8:10-11.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–2 To taste of death, is the same with to…
To taste of death, is the same with to die, or to begin to die, or to experience death: compare with this text Psa 34:8; Luk 14:24; Joh 8:52; Heb 2:9; 6:4,5; 1Pe 2:3.
Till they have seen the kingdom of God come: our evangelist addeth, with power. It cannot be meant of the day of judgment, unless in the type of it, which was in the destruction of Jerusalem, (of which many understand it), for some of the apostles, more doubtless of Christ’s disciples, outlived the fatal ruin of that once famous city. Others understand here by the kingdom of God Christ’s resurrection from the dead, when Christ’s kingdom began to be fully made known, Act 10:42.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On vv1–2 There is a three-fold sense and interpretation given of…
There is a three-fold sense and interpretation given of these words by expositors; 1. Some refer the words to the times of the gospel after Christ’s resurrection and ascension, when the gospel was spread and propagated far and near, and the kingdom of God came with power.
Learn hence, That where the gospel is powerfully preached, and cheerfully obeyed, there Christ cometh most gloriously in his kingdom.
Read full note →
2. Others understand these words of Christ’s coming, and exercising his kingly power in the destruction of Jerusalem; which some of the apostles then standing by lived to see.
3. Others (as most agreeable to the context) understand the words as relating to our Saviour’s transfiguration, As if he had said, Some of you, meaning Peter, James, and John, shall shortly see me on mount Tabor, in such splendour and glory, as shall be a praeludium, a shadow, and representation of that glory, which I shall appear in, when I come to judge the world at the great day.
And whereas our Saviour says not, there be some standing here which shall not die, but, which shall not taste of death; this implies two things;
1. That after they had seen his transfiguration; they must taste of death as well as others.
2. That they should but taste of it, and no more.
From whence learn, 1. That the faithful servants and disciples of Christ must as length, in God’s appointed time, taste and have experience of death as well as others.
2. That although they must taste yet that they shall but taste of death; they shall not drink of the dregs of that bitter cup ; though they fall by the hand of death, yet shall they not be overcome by it; but in the very fall get victory over it.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 Here is, I. A prediction of Christ's kingdom now…
Here is, I. A prediction of Christ's kingdom now near approaching, Mar 9:1. That which is foretold, is, 1. That the kingdom of God would come, and would come so as to be seen: the kingdom of the Messiah shall be set up in the world by the utter destruction of the Jewish polity, which stood in the way of it; this was the restoring of the kingdom of God among men, which had been in a manner lost by the woeful degeneracy both of Jews and Gentiles. 2. That it would come with power, so as to make its own way, and bear down the opposition that was given to it. It came with power, when vengeance was taken on the Jews for crucifying Christ, and when it conquered the idolatry of the Gentile world. 3. That it would come while some now present were alive; There are some standing here, that shall not taste of death, till they see it; this speaks the same with Mat 24:34, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled. Those that were standing here with Christ, should see it, when the others could not discern it to be the kingdom of God, for it came not with observation.
II. A specimen of that kingdom in the transfiguration of Christ, six days after Christ spoke that prediction. He had begun to give notice to his disciples of his death and sufferings; and, to prevent their offence at that, he gives them this glimpse of his glory, to show that his sufferings were voluntary, and what a virtue the dignity and glory of his person would put into them, and to prevent the offence of the cross.
Read full note →
1. It was on the top of a high mountain, like the converse Moses had with God, which was on the top of mount Sinai, and his prospect of Canaan from the top of mount Pisgah. Tradition saith, It was on the top of the mount Tabor that Christ was transfigured; and if so, the scripture was fulfilled, Tabor and Hermon shall rejoice in thy name, Psa 89:12. Dr. Lightfoot, observing that the last place where we find Christ was in the coasts of Caesarea-Philippi, which was far from mount Tabor, rather thinks it was a high mountain which Josephus speaks of, near Caesarea.
2. The witnesses of it were Peter, James, and John; these were the three that were to bear record on earth, answering to Moses, Elias, and the voice from heaven, the three that were to bear record from above. Christ did not take all the disciples with him, because the thing was to be kept very private. As there are distinguishing favours which are given to disciples and not to the world, so there are to some disciples and not to others. All the saints are a people near to Christ, but some lie in his bosom. James was the first of all the twelve that died for Christ, and John survived them all, to be the last eyewitness of this glory; he bore record (Joh 1:14); We saw his glory: and so did Peter, Pe2 1:16-18.
3. The manner of it; He was transfigured before them; he appeared in another manner than he used to do. This was a change of the accidents, the substance remaining the same, and it was a miracle. But transubstantiation, the change of the substance, all the accidents remaining the same, is not a miracle, but a fraud and imposture, such a work as Christ never wrought. See what a great change human bodies are capable of, when God is pleased to put an honour upon them, as he will upon the bodies of the saints, at the resurrection. He was transfigured before them; the change, it is probable, was gradual, from glory to glory, so that the disciples, who had their eye upon him all the while, had the clearest and most certain evidence they could have, that this glorious appearance was no other than the blessed Jesus himself, and there was no illusion in it. John seems to refer to this (Jo1 1:1), when he speaks of the word of life, as that which they had seen with their eyes, and looked upon. His raiment became shining; so that, though probably, it was sad-coloured, if not black, yet it was now exceeding white as snow, beyond what the fuller's art could do toward whitening it.
4. His companions in this glory were Moses and Elias (Mar 9:4); They appeared talking with him, not to teach him, but to testify to him, and to be taught by him; by which it appears that there are converse and intercourse between glorified saints, they have ways of talking one with another, which we understand not. Moses and Elias lived at a great distance of time one from another, but that breaks no squares in heaven, where the first shall be last, and the last first, that is, all one in Christ.
5. The great delight that the disciples took in seeing this sight, and hearing this discourse, is expressed by Peter, the mouth of the rest; He said, Master, it is good for us to be here, Mar 9:5. Though Christ was transfigured, and was in discourse with Moses and Elias, yet he gave Peter leave to speak to him, and to be as free with him as he used to be. Note, Our Lord Jesus, in his exaltation and glory, doth not at all abate of his condescending kindness to his people. Many, when they are in their greatness, oblige their friends to keep their distance; but even to the glorified Jesus true believers have access with boldness, and freedom of speech with him. Even in this heavenly discourse there was room for Peter to put in a word; and this is it, "Lord, it is good to be here, it is good for us to be here; here let us make tabernacles; let this be our rest for ever." Note, Gracious souls reckon it good to be in communion with Christ, good to be near him, good to be in the mount with him, though it be a cold and solitary place; it is good to be here retired from the world, and alone with Christ: and if it is good to be with Christ transfigured only upon a mountain with Moses and Elias, how good it will be to be with Christ glorified in heaven with all the saints! But observe, While Peter was for staying here, he forgot what need there was of the presence of Christ, and the preaching of his apostles, among the people. At this very time, the other disciples wanted them greatly, Mar 9:14. Note, When it is well with us, we are apt to be mindless of others, and in the fulness of our enjoyments to forget the necessities of our brethren; it was a weakness in Peter to prefer private communion with God before public usefulness. Paul is willing to abide in the flesh, rather than depart to the mountain of glory (though that be far better), when he sees it needful for the church, Phi 1:24, Phi 1:25. Peter talked of making three distinct tabernacles for Moses, Elias, and Christ, which was not well-contrived; for such a perfect harmony there is between the law, the prophets, and the gospel, that one tabernacle will hold them all; they dwell together in unity. But whatever was incongruous in what he said, he may be excused, for they were all sore afraid; and he, for his part, wist not what to say (Mar 9:6), not knowing what would be the end thereof.
6. The voice that came from heaven, was an attestation of Christ's mediatorship, Mar 9:7. There was a cloud that overshadowed them, and was a shelter to them. Peter had talked of making tabernacles for Christ and his friends; but while he yet spoke, see how his project was superseded; this cloud was unto them instead of tabernacles for their shelter (Isa 4:5); while he spoke of his tabernacles, God created his tabernacle not made with hands. Now out of this cloud (which was but a shade to the excellent glory Peter speaks of, whence this voice came) it was said, This is my beloved Son, hear him. God owns him, and accepts him, as his beloved Son, and is ready to accept of us in him; we must then own and accept him as our beloved Saviour, and must give up ourselves to be ruled by him.
7. The vision, being designed only to introduce the voice, when that was delivered, disappeared (Mar 9:8); Suddenly when they had looked round about, as men amazed to see where they were, all was gone, they saw no man any more. Elias and Moses were vanished out of sight, and Jesus only remained with them, and he not transfigured, but as he used to be. Note, Christ doth not leave the soul, when extraordinary joys and comforts leave it. Though more sensible and ravishing communications may be withdrawn, Christ's disciples have, and shall have, his ordinary presence with them always, even to the end of the world, and that is it we must depend upon. Let us thank God for daily bread and not expect a continual feast on this side of heaven.
8. We have here the discourse between Christ and his disciples, as they came down from the mount.
(1.) He charged them to keep this matter very private, till he was risen from the dead, which would complete the proof of his divine mission, and then this must be produced with the rest of the evidence, Mar 9:9. And besides, he, being now in a state of humiliation, would haves nothing publicly taken notice of, that might be seen disagreeable to such a state; for to that he would in every thing accommodate himself. This enjoining of silence to the disciples, would likewise be of use to them, to prevent their boasting of the intimacy they were admitted to, that they might not be puffed up with the abundance of the revelations. It is a mortification to a man, to be tied up from telling of his advancements, and may help to hide pride from him.
(2.) The disciples were at a loss what the rising from the dead should mean; they could not form any notion of the Messiah's dying (Luk 18:34), and therefore were willing to think that the rising he speaks of, was figurative, his rising from his present mean and low estate to the dignity and dominion they were in expectation of. But if so, here is another thing that embarrasses them (Mar 9:11); Why say the Scribes, that before the appearing of the Messiah in his glory, according to the order settled in the prophecies of the Old Testament, Elias must first come? But Elias was gone, and Moses too. Now that which raised this difficulty, was, the scribes taught them to expect the person of Elias, whereas the prophecy intended one in the spirit and power of Elias. Note, The misunderstanding of scripture is a great prejudice to the entertainment of truth.
(3.) Christ gave them a key to the prophecy concerning Elias (Mar 9:12, Mar 9:13); "It is indeed prophesied that Elias will come, and will restore all things, and set them to rights; and (though you will not understand it) it is also prophesied of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought, must be a reproach of men, and despised of the people: and though the scribes do not tell you so, the scriptures do, and you have as much reason to expect that as the other, and should not make so strange of it; but as to Elias, I tell you he is come; and if you consider a little, you will understand whom I mean, it is one to whom they have done whatsoever they listed;" which was very applicable to the ill usage they had given John Baptist. Many of the ancients, and the Popish writers generally, think, that besides the coming of John Baptist in the spirit of Elias, himself in his own person is to be expected, with Enoch, before the second appearance of Christ, wherein the prophecy of Malachi will have a more full accomplishment than it had in John Baptist. But it is groundless fancy; the true Elias, as well as the true Messiah promised, is come, and we are to look for no other. These words as it is written of him, refer not to their doing to him whatever they listed (that comes in a parenthesis), but only to his coming. He is come, and hath been, and done, according as was written of him.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On v2 And after six days,.... Six days after this discourse…
And after six days,.... Six days after this discourse with his disciples, in their way to Caesarea Philippi, and after they were come into those parts:
Jesus taketh with him Peter, James, and John; favourite disciples, and a sufficient number, to be witnesses of his transfiguration:
Read full note →
and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves; where he and they were alone. This was not Mount Tabor, as is generally said, but either the mountain which Caesarea was at the foot of, or it may be Mount Lebanon; See Gill on Mat 17:1;
and he was transfigured before them; the above three disciples; See Gill on Mat 17:2.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1–2 Till they see the kingdom of God coming with…
Till they see the kingdom of God coming with power - So it began to do at the day of pentecost, when three thousand were converted to God at once.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1–2 The transfiguration of Christ, and the discourse occasioned by
CHAPTER IX.
The transfiguration of Christ, and the discourse occasioned by
Read full note →
it, 1-13.
He casts out a dumb spirit which his disciples could not, 14-29.
He foretells his death, 30-32.
The disciples dispute about supremacy, and Christ corrects them,
33-37.
Of the person who cast out demons in Christ's name, but did not
follow him, 38-40.
Every kind of office done to the disciples of Christ shall be
rewarded by him, and all injuries done to them shall be
punished, 41, 42.
The necessity of mortification and self-denial, 43-48.
Of the salting of sacrifices, 49;
and the necessity of having union among the disciples of Christ,
50.
NOTES ON CHAP. IX.
Verse 1. There be some] This verse properly belongs to the preceding chapter, and to the preceding discourse. It is in this connection in Mark 16:27; Mark 16:28. See the notes there.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1–2 Mar 9:1. Some that stand here shall not taste…
Mar 9:1. Some that stand here shall not taste of death, &c. — See on Mat 16:28; till they see the kingdom of God come with power — So it began to do when three thousand were converted to God at once.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1–2 Verily I say ... - See the notes at…
Verily I say ... - See the notes at Mat 16:28. This verse properly belongs to the preceding chapter and the preceding discourse.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Nelson Darby 1862 · Public Domain On v1 Mark Chapter 9
Mark Chapter 9
In Matthew we saw the transfiguration announced in terms that related to the subject of that Gospel-the rejected Christ taking His glorious position as Son of man. In each of the Gospels it is in connection with the moment when this transition is clearly set forth; but in each case with a particular character. In Mark we have seen the humble and devoted service of Christ in proclaiming the kingdom, whatever might be the divine glory that shone through His humiliation. Accordingly the manifestation of the transition to glory is here announced as the coming of the kingdom in power. There is nothing that very particularly distinguishes the recital here from that in Matthew, excepting that the isolation of Jesus and the three disciples at this moment is more strongly marked in Mar 9:2, and that the facts are related without addition. The Lord afterwards charges them to tell no one what they had seen, until after His resurrection from among the dead.
Read full note →
We may remark here, that it is indeed the kingdom in power that is manifested. It is not the power of the Holy Ghost bringing the sinner as a holy member of the body into connection with Christ the Head, revealing to it the heavenly glory of Christ as He is at the right hand of the Father. Christ is on earth. He is there in connection with the great witnesses of the Jewish economy (the law and prophecy), but witnesses who give place entirely to Him, while participating with Him in the glory of the kingdom. But Christ is manifested in glory on the earth-the man in glory is recognised as Son of God, as He is known in the cloud. It was the glory as it shall be manifested on the earth, the glory of the kingdom, and God is still in the cloud, though revealing His glory in it. This is not our position as yet without a veil; only that the veil as to our relationship with God is rent from top to bottom, and we have boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Christ. But this is spiritual privilege, not public display-our veil as to that, our body, is not rent; but Christ’s, as the title of entrance, is. [9]
But this position of glory could not be taken by the Lord, nor the glorious reign be established, excepting in a new order of things. Christ must rise from the dead to establish it. It did not accord with His presentation as Messiah, as He then was. Therefore He commands His disciples not to make it known till after His resurrection. It would then be a powerful confirmation of the doctrine of the kingdom in glory. This manifestation of the glory confirmed the faith of the disciples at that time (as Gethsemane taught them the reality of His sufferings, and of His conflicts with the prince of darkness); and would afterwards form a subject of their testimony, and its confirmation, when Christ should have taken His new position.
We may see the character of this manifestation, and its relation to the earthly kingdom of glory of which the prophets had spoken, in 2Pe 1:19. Read there, “We have the word of prophecy confirmed.”
The disciples had stopped at the threshold. In fact, although their eyes were opened, they saw “men as trees walking.” What, they questioned between themselves, could this “rising from among the dead” mean? Resurrection was known to them; all the sect of the Pharisees believed in it. But this power which delivered from the condition in which man and even the saints were found, implying too that others were still left in it when that power was exercised, of this they were totally ignorant. That there was a resurrection in which God would raise up all the dead at the last day, they had no doubt. But that the Son of man was the resurrection and the life-the absolute triumph over death of the last Adam, the Son of God having life in Himself, manifested by His resurrection from among the dead (a deliverance that shall be accomplished in the saints also in due time), of this they understood nothing. Doubtless they received the Lord’s words as true, as having authority; but His meaning was incomprehensible to them.
Now unbelief never fails to find out difficulties that justify it in its own eyes which refuse to perceive the divine proofs of the truth-difficulties great enough in appearance, and which may trouble the minds of those who, through grace, are inclined to believe, or who have believed, but are still weak in the faith.
The prophets had said that Elias must first come. The scribes insisted on this. Struck with the glory that undeniably confirmed the pretensions of Christ, the disciples speak to Him of this difficulty. The conviction which the sight of the glory brought to their mind, made them confess the difficulty with regard to which they had previously been silent, not daring to bring it forward. But now the proof is strong enough to embolden them to face the difficulty.
In fact, the word spoke of it, and Jesus accepts it as the truth; Elias was to come and restore all things. And he shall indeed come before the manifestation of the glory of the Son of man; but first of all the Son of man must suffer and be rejected. This also was written, as well as the mission of Elias. Moreover, before this manifestation of Christ, which tested the Jews as to their responsibility, God had not failed to supply them with a testimony according to the spirit and power of Elias; and they had ill-treated him as they listed. It was written that the Son of man should suffer before His glory, as truly as that Elias should come. However, as we have said, in point of testimony to the Jews, he who took morally the place of Elias had come. They had treated him as they were going to treat the Lord. Thus also John had said that he was not Elias, and he quotes Isa 40:1-31, which speaks of the testimony; but he never quotes Mal 4:1-6, which relates to Elias personally. The Lord (Mat 11:10) applies Mal 3:1; but John, Isaiah.
Come down from the mountain, the people rush towards Him, astonished apparently at this mysterious absence from His disciples, and salute Him with the reverence with which His whole life had inspired them. But that which had taken place in His absence only confirmed the solemn truth that He must depart, which had just been demonstrated by a more glorious testimony. The remnant even, they who believed, knew not how to profit by the power which was now on earth. The faith of those even who believed did not realise the presence of the Messiah-the power of Jehovah, the Healer of Israel: wherefore then still remain among the people and the disciples? The poor father expresses his affliction in a touching manner, in words that shew a heart brought by the sense of its need to a right condition, but very weak in faith. The miserable state of his child is related, and his heart presents a true picture of the condition of the remnant-faith that required support on account of the unbelief under which it was buried. Israel was in no better condition than the poor child. But power was present, capable of all things. That was not the difficulty. Is there faith to profit by it? was the question. “If thou canst,” said the afflicted father to Jesus. “If thou canst (replied the Lord) applies to thy faith; “if thou canst believe, all things are possible.” The poor father, true of heart, confesses his own state with grief, and seeks, in the goodness of Christ, help for his failure. Thus the position of Israel was plainly shewn forth. Almighty power was present to heal them to deliver them from the power of Satan. It was to be done through faith, for the soul was to return to God. And there was faith in those who, touched by the testimony of His power, and moved by the grace of God, sought in Jesus the remedy for their woes and the foundation for their hopes. Their faith was weak and wavering; but wherever it existed, Jesus acted with the sovereign power of His own grace, and of the goodness of God that finds its measure in itself. However far unbelief may have gone in those who should profit by the grace of a dispensation, wherever there is a need to meet, Jesus answers to it when He is looked to. And this is a great mercy and encouragement for us.
Nevertheless, for this power to be exercised by man himself (to which God called him), it was needful that he should draw very near to God-that he to whom it was committed should accustom himself to communion with God, by withdrawing from all that connected him with the world and the flesh.
Let us here recapitulate the principles of this narrative with respect to their general application. The Lord, who was going away, to be seen no more of the world until He came in glory, finds, on coming down from the mount of transfiguration, a case of the power of Satan over man, over the Jewish people. It had continued from almost the commencement of the child’s existence. The faith that recognises the intervention of God in Christ, and takes shelter in it from present evil, is weak and wavering, pre-occupied with the evil, the sight of which conceals in great measure the power that masters and takes it away. Still the sense of need is deep enough to make it have recourse to that power.
It is the unbelief which knows not how to count on the power that is present, which puts an end to the relations of Christ with man. It is not man’s misery that does so-it was this that brought Him down to earth. But the almighty power is present-it only needs faith to profit by it. But if the heart, on account of the enemy’s power, turns to Jesus, it can (thank God) bring its unbelief to Him as well as all the rest. There is love and power in Him for every kind of weakness. The people crowd around, attracted by the sight of the enemy’s power. Can the Lord heal him? But can he allow the testimony of Satan’s power to invade their hearts? This is the curiosity of men whose imagination is filled with the effect of the enemy’s presence. But, whatever might be the unbelief of man, Christ was present, the testimony of a power that, in love to men, destroyed the effects of the power of the enemy. The people gather round-Jesus sees it, and with a word casts out the enemy. He acts according to the necessity of His power, and the purposes of the love of God. Thus the effort of the enemy occasioned the intervention of Jesus, which the weakness of the father’s faith tended to arrest. Nevertheless, if we lay all our infirmity, as well as our misery, before Christ, He answers according to the fulness of His power. On the other hand, if the flesh meddles with the thoughts of faith, it hinders intelligence in the ways of God. While journeying, Christ explained His death and His new condition in resurrection. Why blame the lack of intelligence which hid all this from them, and filled their minds with ideas of earthly and Messianic glory? The secret of their want of intelligence lay here. He had told them plainly; but on the way they disputed among themselves which should have the first place in the kingdom. The thoughts of the flesh filled their heart, in regard to Jesus, with exactly the opposite of that which engaged the mind of God respecting Him. Infirmity, presented to Jesus, finds an answer in power and in sovereign grace; the flesh and its desires hide from us, even when thinking of Him, all the import of the thoughts of God. It was their own glory they were seeking in the kingdom; the cross-the true path to glory-was unintelligible to them.
After this the Lord resumes with His disciples the great subject before Him at this moment; and which was, in every way, that which now must be decided. He was to be rejected; and He separates Himself from the multitude, with His disciples, to instruct them on this point. Pre-occupied with His glory, with His rights as Messiah, they do not understand it Their faith even, such as it was, blinds them to all beyond that; because, while rightly attaching itself to the Person of Christ, it connected-or rather, their own hearts, in which the faith existed, connected-with Christ the accomplishment of that which their flesh desired and sought in Him for themselves. How subtle is the heart! This betrays itself in their dispute for pre-eminence. Their faith is too weak to bear elucidations that contradicted their ideas (Mar 9:32). These ideas are manifested without disguise among themselves. Jesus reproves them, and gives them a little child for an example, as He had so often done before. He that would follow Christ must have a spirit quite opposite to that of the world-a spirit belonging to that which was weak and despised by the pride of the world. In receiving such a one, they would receive Christ; in receiving Christ, they would receive the Father. It was eternal things that were in question, and the spirit of a man must then be the spirit of a child.
The world was so contrary to Christ , that he who was not against Him was for Him. [10] The Son of man was to be rejected. Faith in His Person was the thing, not now individual service to Him. Alas! the disciples were still thinking of themselves: “He followeth not us.” They must share His rejection; and if any one gave them a cup of cold water, God would remember it. Whatever would cause them to stumble in their walk, were it even their own right eye or hand, they would do well to cut off; for it was not the things of an earthly Messiah that were in question, but the things of eternity. And all should be tested by the perfect holiness of God, and that in judgment by one means or another. Every one should be salted with fire-the good and the bad. Where there was life, the fire would only consume the flesh; for when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world. If the judgment reaches the wicked (and assuredly it shall reach them), it is condemnation-a fire that is not quenched. But, for the good, there was also something else: they should be salted with salt. Those who were consecrated to God, whose life was an offering to Him, should not lack the power of holy grace, which binds the soul to God and inwardly preserves it from evil. Salt is not the gentleness that pleases (which grace produces without doubt), but that energy of God within us which connects everything in us with God, and dedicates the heart to Him, binding it to Him in the sense of obligation and of desire, rejecting all in oneself that is contrary to Him (obligation that flows from grace, but which acts all the more powerfully on that account). Thus, practically, it was distinctive grace, the energy of holiness, which separates from all evil; but by setting apart for God. Salt was good: here the effect produced in the soul, the condition of the soul, is so called, as well as the grace that produces this condition. Thus they who offered themselves to God were set apart for Him; they were the salt of the earth. But if the salt lose its savour, wherewith can it be salted? It is used for seasoning other things; but if the salt needs it for itself, there is nothing left that can salt it. So would it be with Christians; if they who were of Christ did not render this testimony, where should anything be found, apart from Christians, to render it to them and produce it in them? Now this sense of obligation to God which separates from evil, this judgment of all evil in the heart, must be in oneself. It is not a question of judging others, but of placing oneself before God, thus becoming the salt, having it in oneself. With regard to others, one must seek peace; and real separation from all evil is that which enables us to walk in peace together.
In a word, Christians were to keep themselves separate from evil and near to God in themselves; and to walk with God in peace among one another.
No instruction could be more plain, more important, more valuable. It judges, it directs, the whole Christian life in a few words.
exigencies of eternity and the character of Christian life, He brings back all the relations of God with man to their original elements, setting aside the world and its glory, and Jewish glory also, as to its immediate accomplishment, and pointing out the path of eternal life in the cross, and in the saving power of God. Nevertheless He takes the place of obedience Himself, and of service-the true place of man-in the midst of all this: God Himself being introduced on the other hand, in His proper character as God, in His nature and in His divine rights; the special glory that belongs to dispensations, and the relationships proper to them, being left out.
Footnotes on Mark Chapter 9
9: The entrance into the cloud does not form part of the revelation here. We find it in Luke. The cloud for Israel was the place where God dwelt; it was (Mat 17:1-27) a bright cloud.
10: Some have difficulty in reconciling this with: “Forbid him not, he that is not with me is against me.” But they coalesce when the main point is seen; Christ was a divine criterion of man’s state, and brought things to an issue. The world was wholly, absolutely, against Him. If a man was not, there was no middle state, he was for Him. But things being brought to an issue, if a man was not for Him, he was of the world, and so against Him.
John Nelson Darby — Synopsis of the Books of the Bible: the New Testament (c. 1857–1862) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v2 4. The Transfiguration. Mar_9:2-13
4. The Transfiguration. Mar_9:2-13
(Parallels: Mat_17:1-13; Luk_9:28-36)
Read full note →
2And after six days Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, and leadeth them up into an high mountain apart by themselves; and he was transfigured before them. 3And his raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow; 1 so as no fuller on earth can white them. 4And there appeared unto them Elias with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. 5And Peter answered and said to Jesus, Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles [tents]; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. 6For he wist not what to say: 2 for they were sore afraid. 7And there was a cloud that overshadowed them: and a voice came out of the cloud, saying, This is my beloved Son: hear him. 8And suddenly, when they had looked round about, they saw no man any more, save 3 Jesus only with themselves. 9And as they came down from the mountain, he charged them that they should tell no man what things they had seen, till the Son of man were risen from the dead. 10And they kept that saying with themselves, questioning one with another what the rising from the dead should mean. 11And they asked him, saying, Why say the scribes that Elias must first come? 12And he answered 4 and told them, Elias verily cometh first, and restoreth all things [in the baptism of the people for the Messiah, and of the Messiah for the people]; and how it is written of the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought. 5 13But I say unto you, That Elias is indeed come, and they have done unto him whatsoever they listed, as it is written of him.
EXEGETICAL AND CRITICAL
See on the parallel passages of Matthew and Luke.—This narrative stands in a definite historical connection with what precedes (Mar_9:1); as it does also in the accounts of Matthew and Luke. In regard to the locality, we may refer to our notes upon the scene in Matthew. The Tabor tradition is sufficiently accounted for by the manifestation of Christ upon the mountain in Galilee, Matthew 28. In describing the effect of the transfiguration, Mark uses the strongest illustrations (“white as snow,” etc., “as no fuller,” etc.). He, in common with Luke, records that Peter knew not what he was saying, or what he wanted to say. But he alone has the sudden vanishing of the heavenly visitors, and the inquiring look around on the part of the disciples. He joins Matthew in communicating the Lord’s dealing with the disciples on coming down from the mountain. But he alone observes that the disciples questioned among themselves what the rising from the dead should mean. On the other hand, he omits, what Luke mentions, that Moses and Elias (ὀφθέντες ἐν δόξῃ) conversed with Jesus concerning His decease in Jerusalem. So only Luke has the delicate notices of the slumbrous and yet wakeful condition of the beholding disciples; while Matthew, on his part, alone applies the Lord’s word concerning the Elias who had already appeared, to John the Baptist. Mark narrates the history of the transfiguration in his own characteristic manner, exhibiting its main traits in vivid and living touches.
Mar_9:2. After six days.—See on Matthew.
Mar_9:3. No fuller on earth.—The white glitter was supernatural. Gerlach: “In ancient times they wore but few colored garments. The fuller’s business was to wash what was soiled, and to make it clean and glistening.” Starke: “They used in the East to make linen garments so beautiful that they glittered with whiteness; but such as these the Lord’s garments now outshone. The white color was that which the Romans called candorem, and which was so clear and so deep as to glisten splendidly. Materials prepared of such linen or other materials were, among the Jews, appropriated to priests and kings. Such garments also were in high estimation among other people, especially among the Romans. They were worn only by the highest personages, who were by such garments distinguished from those below them; hence, when they were seeking high offices of state, they distinguished themselves by such clothing, and were called candidati. And since among the Romans the glittering white upon their garments was refined to the highest lustre by art, and the Jews had been long in the habit of endeavoring to imitate it, we can understand the phrase, That no fuller on earth could so whiten them. That Solomon’s magnificence was white, has been gathered from the fact that his array was likened to the lilies of the field (Mat_6:28-29). What kind of glory was that of Herod’s royal apparel, spoken of in Act_12:21, is shown in Josephus, Antiq. xix. 7.
Mar_9:6. For he wist not what to say (or, he would say).—His words were an utterance of immediate feeling, expressing a state of perfect complacency, after the manner of dreams, ecstasies, and visions, in figure,—in figurative language which came to him he knew not whence.—They were sore afraid.—Matthew observes that after the sound was heard, they fell on their faces and were sore afraid. But there is no real difference. For their trepidation began naturally at the beginning, and continued increasing throughout. Matthew describes its climax; whilst Mark mentions the disciples’ fear only for the sake of explaining the words of Peter.
Mar_9:10. And they kept that saying with themselves.—Luk_9:36. They concealed the fact which they had witnessed, after that command. Fritzsche: They obeyed the prohibition of Jesus. Meyer, on the contrary: They kept the words concerning the resurrection, and pondered them. The second, indeed, followed from the first. While they religiously kept their silence down to the day of His resurrection, they must have often asked when and how the bond of secrecy would be relaxed. Starke: “It requires much effort to overcome the tendency in beginners to prate. The word κρατεῖν shows it was not without trouble, and putting much restraint upon themselves, that the disciples kept this secret so long. The other disciples probably put questions,” &c.—The rising from the dead.—That is, this express and particular resurrection from the dead which the Lord had predicted for Himself.
Mar_9:12. And restoreth all things.—The way and manner in which Elias should do this (the idea is still indefinite, in the Present) is explained by what follows: And how is it written of the Son of Man?—What holds good of Him, that He must suffer many things, holds good also of His forerunner. This introduces the subsequent thought: Elias is come already. The punctuation given above, according to which the note of interrogation stands after “Son of Man” (Lachmann, Meyer), gives a clearer and more emphatic idea than the customary position of the note of interrogation after “be rejected.” Instead of καί, one would in the latter case expect a particle of opposition; and the construction of Mar_9:13 should then have been different. Another construction is this: Elias cometh and restoreth all things. And how? It is written, &c.—How it is written of the Son of Man.—That is, his restoring all things proceeds, like the work of the Son of Man, through sufferings and death.—That He must suffer many things.—The ἴνα is here especially striking. Meyer says, that it sets before us the design of the γέγραπται. We take the sentence as a breviloquence, referring to what precedes—“Elias cometh first.” And how is it written of the Son of Man, sc. that He cometh? In order that (ἵνα) He may suffer, &c.
Mar_9:13. As it is written of Him.—That is, in regard to the persecution of the real Elias. See 1Ki_1:19. (Grotius, Meyer.) That the unworthy treatment of the prophets accords (Kuinoel), is proved by the previous verse, where from the impending sufferings of the Messiah the conclusion is drawn that Elias-John must also suffer.
DOCTRINAL AND ETHICAL
1. See on Matthew.
2. The transitory transformation of Christ a prelude of His abiding transformation. The transfiguration, as a transition into the second higher condition of human nature, was like the glorification. The transfiguration has the glorification for its result: the glorification is conditioned by the transfiguration. Into this condition the glorified Christ will raise His people also, 1 Corinthians 15. But the glorification is the consummated, internal, spiritual power and glory, exalted above the changed, creaturely life, and manifested as the perfected light of life.
3. According to the privately communicated opinion of a respected Romanist theologian—personally unknown to me—the transfiguration upon the mountain was a night-scene. This was Schleiermacher’s opinion also (see his Sermons on the Gospel of Mark). In favor of this supposition we may observe, 1. that the transfiguration of Jesus followed a solemn season of prayer; and we know that He commonly held: these solemn seasons of prayer in the night; 2. that Luke mentioned their having gone down from the mountain on the day after that event. The transfiguration, by being considered as a night-scene, evidently has a peculiarly mysterious light thrown upon it.
4. As on the baptism of Christ His personal divine-human consciousness came to full maturity, so was here consummated the consciousness of His perfected prophetic work of word and deed. The goal of His prophetic work, in the narrower sense, was already reached. As Jesus, regarded in Himself, apart from His connection with sinful humanity, as the personally perfected God-man, might at His baptism have ascended into heaven, if He had willed to sever His destiny from that of mankind, so He might, as Prophet of the New Testament word of revelation, with the consummated consciousness of having done His prophetic work, have made the Mount of Transfiguration the Mount of Ascension. [But if Christ had ascended to heaven from the Mount of Transfiguration, He would have falsified the very prophecies alluded to; for these included His Passion and Crucifixion.—Ed.] The authority already referred to brings this out very excellently; and we also have alluded to it, in the Leben Jesu, ii. 908. “In fact, this was the moment (when the cloud received Jesus, and separated Him from the disciples) to teach them that He had power to retain His life, and that it was only free love that made Him leave the fellowship of the heavenly beings, and go down with His disciples into the valley of death.”
5. Moses and Elias conversed with the Lord, according to Luke, concerning His departure in Jerusalem. The unknown Romanist expositor just alluded to thinks that these men appeared to the Lord as representatives from the kingdom of the dead, that they might add their argument to ensure His voluntary determination to encounter the sufferings of death, and thus redeem those who were held in the realm of death, or generally complete His work of redemption. The gratuitous and unwarranted idea of the intercession of the saints for the dead will not prevent our doing justice to the penetration of this view. But there are two things to be noticed: 1. According to Luke, Moses and Elias appear to the Lord in glory (Mar_9:31), not as supplicating intercessors; 2. Christ had already much earlier preannounced His passion: His baptism itself was, in this relation, decisive in its force as a preintimation. But that the kingdom of the dead had some interest in the voluntary determination of Christ to go on His way of suffering, Ebrard has well shown, and remarks: “In the transfiguration, Jesus had given the fathers of the ancient covenant the blessed intelligence of His perfect readiness to redeem them by His own death.” Comp. my Leben Jesu, ii. 909.
6. Let us make three tabernacles.—A significant Future is added: for he knew not what he would say (λαλήσει). The man in ecstasy (as in a dream) brings the feeling or the thought; but the figure or form of the thought is imparted to him according to the secret laws that rule the figurative perception and language of the visionary condition. Thus came the figure to Peter: “build three tabernacles, one for Thee,” etc., as an expression for his blessed feelings which he would utter.
HOMILETICAL AND PRACTICAL
See on Matthew. So also Luke.—Between the confession and the transfiguration lies the week of temporal trials.—The mountain of prayer is the mountain of transfiguration.—The revelation of the life of Christ in His glorification here, a promise and sign for His people, 2 Corinthians 5.—The Lord’s heavenly beauty.—Christ at the turning-point of His deeds and sufferings; by festal remembrance and sacrificial consecration glorified.—Consecration to the Lord changes man: 1. Internally: he is elevated into the spiritual world, and surrounded by blessed spirits. 2. Externally: he is renewed, adorned, transfigured.—The only true adornment of men: divine life of the Spirit.—Man upon the mountain: the first Sunday festival of the youthful Church of the Confession.—The transfiguration a sign and symbol 1. of the Sunday, 2. of the Ascension, 3. of the new Paradise.—The wish of Peter; or, the ideals of young Christians and the Lord’s training: 1. Ideals of young Christians: that of retaining their early experiences, that of entire separation from the world, life of contemplation. 2. The Lord’s guidance; further onward, deeper, higher.—All else comes and goes: Jesus alone abides.—Moses and Elias vanish from the disciples before His glory, and in the end they see Him alone.—The law and the prophets are merged in the glory of the Gospel.—The transfiguration of Christ upon the mountain: for Him, as for the three blest disciples, a preparation for Gethsemane.—The transfiguration of Jesus: 1. As a single central point in His life; 2. in its earlier types and symbols (Enoch, Abraham, Moses, Elijah, earlier crises in the life of Jesus Himself); 3. in its significance for the future, pointing to the resurrection, the ascension, the great manifestation of Christ, the glorification of believers.—The transfiguration of Christ the sure pledge of the renewing of the world, Rev. 20:21, and of that new state of glory wherein the word is fulfilled, Behold, I make all things new!—The prophetic history of Christ’s life and suffering, the history of the life and suffering of His people.—The Lord gives unasked to His disciples that sign from heaven which He had denied to the asking world.
Starke:—Osiander:—God strengthens the faith of His people before trials come, that they may be able to endure them.—Bibl. Wirt.:—He who would be conversant with heavenly things must tear away his soul from earth, and soar towards God.—The heavenly glory is incomparable; greater and more excellent than all beauty and grace upon earth.—Nova Bibl. Tub.:—Moses and Elias still live: witnesses of eternity.—Bibl. Wirt.:—In Christ the law and the prophets attained their goal and fulfilment. Jesus is Lord of the dead and living; He has the keys of hell and of death, Rev_3:7; Psa_84:2-3; Psa_84:5.—Lange:—God lets His people have, even in this world, extraordinary glances and views; but they are only of short duration, because their longer enjoyment would not be tolerable and profitable.—Osiander:—Human nature cannot bear the glory of eternal life; therefore our bodies will be glorified.—We must depend only and absolutely upon Jesus Christ.—Quesnel:—Jesus Christ had His Elias who announced Him in the world; He will have more of them yet in times to come and before His last appearance.—One place of Scripture must not be opposed to another, but Scripture must be compared with Scripture.—The ungodly accomplish, against their own will, the holy will of God: they by their persecution not only create happiness for the saints, but make their own misery.—Marvel hot that faithful ministers of Christ are cast out as evil, for it was clearly enough predicted in the Scripture.—Rieger: Probably the disciples would desire, on going down, that they might communicate this vision to others; but the prohibition of Jesus forbade. The same holds good of us in many instances now.—Schleiermacher:—And that also was a spiritual glorification of the Lord when the disciples were taught that they had nothing more to do either with the one or the other (Moses and Elias), neither with the letter of the law nor with revolutionizing zeal. (Yet Moses and Elias were not set aside by Christ; but they were lifted up and lost in Him as their fulfilment.)—This spirit, which can only from within outwards renew our holy relation to God, and will spread abroad only through the energies of love the living knowledge of God among the children of men, will be to the end of time His glorification.
Brieger:—To glorify and transfigure, means to make perfectly clear and transparent (but of men, and especially of Christ, it means to exhibit the creaturely life in its spiritual glory). The eternal destiny of man was glorification.—Christ went on now to meet His sufferings. In order to obtain strength for the endurance of the extremest sorrows, He must hare a foretaste of the glory which awaited Him.—But on account of His disciples too, it was needful that Christ should be glorified.—Bauer:—Peter would build tabernacles: for the heavenly beings who dwell above, skins and huts.
Footnotes:
[1]Mar_9:3.—The ὡς χιών is omitted by B., C., L., Δ., Tischendorf, probably on account of the strange comparison. [Meyer retains it, remarking that if it were an interpolation, it would be ὡς τὸ φῶς, in conformity with Mat_17:2.]
[2]Mar_9:6.—Most Codd. (A., D., E., F., G., H., K., Euthymius, Theophylact, Meyer) λαλήσει; other readings, λαλήσῃ (Elzevir, Fritzsche, Scholz, Lachmann), ἀποκριθῇ (B., C.*, L., Δ., Tischendorf).—B., C., D., L., Δ. have ἐγένοντο instead of ἦσαν.—B., C., L., Δ., Lachmann, Tischendorf, Meyer read ἐγένετο, with Luk_9:35.
[3]Mar_9:8.—B., D., Lachmann read εἰ μή, instead of ἀλλά with Mat_17:8.
[4]Mar_9:12.—Tischendorf and Meyer: ὁ δὲ ἔφη instead of ἀποκριθεὶς εἶπεν, after B., C., L., Δ., and Syriac, Coptic, Persian versions.
[5][There are different modes of punctuation. According to Lachmann and Meyer the version would be: “And how is it written of the Son of man? that he must suffer,” &c. According to another punctuation, followed by Hahn, the rendering would be: “And how is it written concerning the Son of man, that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought.”—Ed.]
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures (Critical, Doctrinal, and Homiletical), ed. John Peter Lange, English translation edited by Philip Schaff (1864–1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On v2 § 75. — THE TRANSFIGURATION, Mar_9:2-13.
§ 75. — THE TRANSFIGURATION, Mar_9:2-13.
(See notes on Mat_17:1-13.)
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–2 Mar_9:1. And he said unto them] The opening verse…
Mar_9:1. And he said unto them] The opening verse of the Ninth Chapter connects closely with what goes before.
Verily I say unto you] This well-known formula occurs 13 times in St Mark, 31 times in St Matthew , 7 times in St Luke, 25 times in St John. It always introduces solemn and important announcements.
Read full note →
the kingdom of God] On this expression see above, ch. Mar_1:15. Of those then standing with the Lord, three six days afterwards beheld Him transfigured; all, save one, were witnesses of His resurrection; one at least, St John, survived the capture of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Temple, and on each of these occasions “the kingdom of God” came “with power.”
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–2 (1) And he said unto them.—The division of the…
IX.
(1) And he said unto them.—The division of the chapters is obviously wrong. The verse ought to come, as in St. Matthew and St. Luke, in immediate connection with the foregoing discourse. The present arrangement may have been made with a view of connecting it with the Transfiguration, as that which was the fulfilment of the promise; but if so, it was based on what is at least a doubtful interpretation. (See Note on Mat_16:28.) The form of the words in St. Mark agrees with St. Luke’s report, “until they shall see the kingdom of God,” rather than with St. Matthew’s “the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”
Read full note →
Come with power.—The Greek verb implies that they should see it not “coming,” but as having actually come in its completeness.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–2 Till they see the kingdom of God come with…
Till they see the kingdom of God come with power. In St. Mat_16:28 the words run thus: "Till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom." In St. Luk_9:27, "Till they see the kingdom of God." All these evangelists connect their record of the Transfiguration with these predictive words a circumstance which must not be lost sight of in their interpretation. The question, therefore, is whether or how far the Transfiguration is to be regarded as a fulfillment of these words. One thing seems plain, that the Transfiguration, if a fulfillment at all, was not an exhaustive fulfillment of the words. The solemnity of their introduction forbids us to limit them to an event which would happen within eight days of their utterance. But there was an event impending, namely, the destruction of Jerusalem, involving the overthrow of the Jewish polity, which, coming as it did within forty or fifty years of the time when our Lord uttered these words, might reasonably have been expected to take place within the lifetime of some of those then standing there. And that great catastrophe was frequently alluded to by our Lord as a type and earnest of the great judgment at the end of the world. What relation, then, did the Transfiguration hold to these two events and to the prediction contained in this verse? It was surely a prelude and pledge of what should be hereafter, specially designed to brace and strengthen the apostles for the sight of the sufferings of their Master, and to animate them to endure the toil and the trials of the Christian life. So that the Transfiguration was an event, so to speak, parenthetic to this prediction a preliminary manifestation, for the special advantage of those who witnessed it; though given also "for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." Such were the views of St. Hilary, St. Chrysostom, St. Ambrose, and others. "When our Lord was transfigured," says St. Jerome, "he did not lose his form and aspect, but he appeared to his apostles as he will appear at the day of judgment." And elsewhere he says, "Go forth a little out of your prison, and place before your eyes the reward of your present labor, Which "the eye hath not seen, nor the ear heard, neither hath it entered into the heart of man.
HOMILIES BY R. GREEN Vers. 1-8. The Transfiguration.
Read full note →
A brief interval of six days occurs, "days of the Son of man," of which no record remains. How much of even this brief ministry to men seems to be lost! Yet is the account of each day to be given when, to every man favored with his presence and teaching, it is said, "Render the account of thy stewardship." The silence of the record is an appropriate prelude to the sublime event which follows. "He went up into a mountain to pray." "Peter, James, and John flower and crown of the apostolic band were the privileged three who alone witnessed the scene, though the few graphic words of the historian, "kept and told to no man until after the Son of man had risen from the dead," have presented to the eye of the Church in all ages a clearly defined picture of it. And yet in viewing it we are dazzled by excess of light. Few and simple must be our words. "He was transfigured," a word which is afterwards explained to apply to "the fashion of his countenance." It was "altered;" so St. Luke. St. Matthew adds, "his face did shine as the sun;" while "his garment became glistering, exceeding white," "white as the light," "so as no fuller on earth can whiten them:" Beautiful addition so naive, so simple! That Divine nature, which in the incarnate body was always transfigured before the eyes of men, now burst forth to view, radiating from within; the hidden divinity shining through the veil of the flesh until its veil of raiment became radiant with light.
I In the history and development of the incarnate Son this event must have had. its high import. What is personal to himself, however, is almost entirely hidden. Of the "talking" we hear only one word. The two men, which were Moses and Elijah," "the founder and the great defender of the old dispensation," "spake of his decease. " Ve ry soon after the days were well-nigh come that he should be received up," and "he steadfastly set his face to go to Jerusalem." Henceforth his steps tend to the Cross.
II But, whatever purpose was answered in respect of Jesus himself, the revelation most assuredly was, in the highest degree, important to the disciples, and through them to the Church at large.
1. Here is beheld the harmony, the unity, of the Law and the prophets and the Christ.
2. Here, within the "bright cloud" which "overshadowed them," though "they feared as they entered into it," they were made "eye-witnesses of his majesty;" they witnessed the "honor and glory" which "he received from God the Father.
3. They heard the "voice," and heard it "come out of heaven," which bore testimony for all to receive: "This is my beloved Son." In this lay the "honor and glory" which "he received." So thought that one of the three who declared, "It is good to be here," and who would fain have built tabernacles on this "holy mount." This testimony had already been borne when, at the baptism, "a voice out of the" same "heaven" declared to him, "thou art my beloved Son." Here the witness is of him to others: "This is my beloved Son;" and with the additional word of command, "Hear ye him." Once again afterwards, when the Father glorified his Name, there came "a voice out of heaven" directly speaking to him; though, as he declared, "this voice hath not come for my sake, but for your sakes." How truly might he say of all that he received, "not for my sake, but for your sakes"! Now, not to Peter only, but also to James and John, is it revealed," Thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God." Now they with him share this blessedness which "flesh and blood" could not impart; now we, and with us all the Church, rejoice in the knowledge of this primary truth. How our hearts long to see his glory and hear the heavenly voice, and dwell on "the holy mount" of vision! And yet, how "good" soever it might be, it is better for the cultivation of our hearts in righteousness, and far better for the suffering, sinful world, that we go down into the valley to struggle with the evil spirit, and by faith and love and obedience glorify our living Head, and seek a meetness for those "tabernacles" which are not made by human hands. G.
HOMILIES BY J.J. GIVEN Vers. 1-13. Parallel passages: Mat_18:1-13 Luk_9:28-36. A glimpse of glory.
I THE TRANSFIGURATION.
1. Allusions to the Transfiguration. The scene described in the above parallel passages is as singular as solemn. There are, however, two allusions to it in other books of the New Testament One is in St John"s Gospel, (Joh_1:14) And the Word was made 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." The other 2Pe_1:16-18, "For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honor and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount. " There is, moreover, an intimation of the same in the three preceding verses, where the apostle, speaking of his "decease," uses the same word (exodov) which is found in this passage and nowhere else in the same sense in the New Testament, and where he speaks once and again of his "tabernacle," saying, "As long as I am in this tabernacle," and "Shortly I must put off this tabernacle." As undesigned coincidents are acknowledged to be strongly corroborative of the truth of a narrative, so such allusive references as those just quoted are in the highest degree confirmatory of the reality of the awful event referred to.
2. Persons present. The persons permitted to witness this event were truly privileged individuals of the chosen the more select, and of the loved the more beloved. This inner circle of the disciples consisted of Peter and James and John. They alone were present with the Savior the death-chamber of the daughter of Jairus, they alone were eye-witnesses of the Transfiguration, and they alone accompanied him in his agony.
3. Place of the occurrence. The place where the Transfiguration occurred was long believed to be Tabor, that solitary hill rising abruptly from the great plain of Esdraelon, the ancient Jezreel. This tradition, prevalent since the sixth century, has been set aside in more recent times. The locality last named as visited by our Lord was Caesarea Philippi, too far distant from Tabor and necessitating too great a change of place. It is certain that the summit of Tabor was occupied at the time in question by a Roman fortress, and did not afford the solitude which the event referred to presupposes. Besides, that town of Caesarea Philippi lay under the range of Hermon, so that one of the heights of that snow-capped mount was the most likely place. Hermon is the most conspicuous mountain in Palestine; hence its present name of Jebel esh Sheikh, the chief mountain. There is, moreover, an expression of comparison in one of the narratives, which points in this same direction, for the graphic touch of St. Mark, "white as snow," might well be suggested by the snowy cone of Hermon. It must, however, be admitted that the words of comparison (wv ciwn) are omitted in a B, C, L, D, in several versions, and by most of the critical editors, though found a A, D, E, F, G, and eight other uncials; in the Syriac, Coptic, Gothic, and most of the Latin versions.
4. The time of the event. The time is specified by each of the three evangelists. Two of them, reckoning exclusively, specify a period of six days, and one of them, adopting the inclusive method, speaks of it as "about an eight days." This note of time, thus given in all the three narratives, has in it something surely special and significant. Nor is it to be passed over slightly, for the element of time in this instance is helpful, not only in tracing the sequence of events in the life of our Lord, but also in indicating in some measure the significance of the particular event here recorded. Peter had made his famous confession of the Christ, and had been commended for the words of truth he spoke. Our Lord had followed this up by foretelling his own death and passion. But now, instead of words of praise, he had to use the language of sharp rebuke, when Peter deprecated our Lord"s sufferings, and, tempter-like, sought to divert his thoughts to an earthly kingdom, like those very kingdoms of the world and their glory which Satan had proffered in one of his great assaults. Afar these and other conversations about Messiah"s work and the nature of his kingdom, a week or thereabouts had elapsed when the Transfiguration scene took place a scene having an important bearing on the disciples at that crisis, on the Master in the near prospect of his passion, and on the Church at all periods and in all places.
II Concomitants of The TRANSFIGURATION.
1. Mountain scenery. In the scenery of Scripture, as in the natural landscape, mountains form a conspicuous object. They are the spots so often selected for Divine manifestations, and so frequently signalized by solemn service or severe sacrifice. Why they have been chosen for such purposes we may be unable to explain. Whether it is that their sublime grandeur tends to elevate the thoughts from earth to heaven; or that their separation from the plains and valleys around promotes meditative seclusion, helping to shut out the world and leave the soul alone with God; or whether the fresh free air that surrounds their summits has a bracing effect upon the human spirit; whatever be the cause, the fact of their selection remains the same. When Abraham, the father of the faithful, was summoned to surrender his son, his only son Isaac, whom he loved, the sacrifice was to take place on Mount Moriah. When God was pleased to appear to Moses in the bush that burned with fire and yet was not consumed, it was on Mount Horeb. When he came down in awful majesty at the giving of the Law, it was on the top of Sinai he descended. It was on bleak and barren Ebal the curses were pronounced; it was on fair and fertile Gerizim that the blessings were uttered; while at each curse and blessing the living voice of the mighty multitude rolled up the hillsides, pronouncing the long "Amen." On Carmel Elijah denounced the prophets of Baal, and destroyed the worship of that idol. It was on Mount Zion that the ark and tabernacle found a resting-place in David"s day, and there in consequence was the center of Jewish religious service; though it was on Mount Moriah that the temple was subsequently built. From Pisgah Moses looked across the flood and gazed on the land of promise. On Nebo God took his servant home to heaven. So also our blessed Lord himself chose mountains as the scenes of his discourses, doings, and devotions. On the Mountain of the Beatitudes he delivered those blessed utterances contained in that wondrous sermon on the mount. On a mountain in Galilee he manifested himself after his passion; and from Olivet he ascended. And now he leads his disciples to that mountain apart; and so retirement, it would seem, was one ground of the selection of a mountain on this occasion.
2. The preparation. But more important than the place of transfiguration was the Savior"s preparation for it. That preparation, we learn, was prayer. In every crisis of his history, and at every great event of his life, we find the Savior engaged in prayer. One main feature of his life on earth was prayer. When he was inaugurated by baptism, and when he formally entered on his own ministry, he prayed; for it is written, "It came to pass, that Jesus also being baptized, and praying, the heaven opened." Before he set apart his twelve apostles to found his Church and propagate his doctrine, he spent a whole night in prayer. When he wrought his greatest miracle, "he lifted up his eyes in prayer and said, Father, I thank thee that thou hast heard me. And I knew that thou hearest me always." During his agony in the garden of Gethsemane he prayed once and again, and a third time, with still-increasing earnestness. When he hung upon the cross he prayed, and prayed even for his murderers. As he ascended to heaven his hands were uplifted in holy prayer and heavenly benediction. And now that he is seated at the right hand of the Majesty on high he prays on behalf of his people; for he is our Advocate with the Father, and ever lives to intercede. In like manner, the purpose for which he ascended the Mount of Transfiguration was prayer: "He took Peter, and James, and John, and went up into a mountain to pray.
3. Peculiarity of the Saviors prayer. We must mark the peculiarity and purport of his prayer. It had this peculiarity, that one element of prayer was wanting indeed, it must have been wanting. There were thanksgiving and petition, we know, but there could be no confession. He had no sin to confess, no contrition to feel for personal sin, no sorrow on that head to express, and so repentance in his case was impossible. Yet in his humanity, sinless though it was, he needed prayer. The purport of such prayer we are at no loss to discover. It included petition for himself and intercession for his people; while this spirit of prayer served as a pattern for all his followers, Not only was he an Expiation, but an Example; for he left us an example, that we should follow in his steps. The character of his intercession may be learned from his prayer for Peter, and his great intercession (John 17) for all his followers in all times and in all lands. His petition for the cup to pass away from him had its answer in the power that sustained him in his agony, in the submission of his human will to the Divine, and in the angel strengthening him.
III CHARACTERS CONCERNED.
1. Representative characters. In addition to the three favourite apostles, who were merely spectators but not actors, properly speaking, in this scene, we have Moses, Elijah, and Jesus, all of them in a representative character. Here were the Law-giver, the Law-restorer, and the Law-fulfiller. The Law was given by Moses; it was restored, after a time of sad defection, by Elijah; it was fulfilled in all its requirements by Jesus, who came expressly not to destroy the Law or abrogate the prophets, but to fulfill them both. They represented still more. Moses represented the Law and Elijah the prophets; both doing homage to Jesus, who represented the gospel, or rather Law and prophets merged in the gospel dispensation. Here, again, is one that never tasted death, but was transferred in a fiery chariot from earth to heaven. No doubt that very translation effected some change analogous to death. At all events, he may fitly represent those that are alive and remain till the coming of the Lord, who shall not sleep as others sleep, but who shall be changed; "for," saith the apostle, "we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed." Here, too, is one that died as mortals die, but how or where his body was laid to rest no one knoweth till this day; the only record is that "God buried him." Here, also, is One that died a violent death and by wicked hands; he died and was buried, his grave being made with the rich in his death. Thus we get a hint that it matters little how we die whether by the decay of nature, or fell disease, or dread catastrophe, or the hand of violence; neither does it matter where or how we are buffed whether in the country churchyard, or city cemetery, or the desert sands, or the depths of ocean; whether in the grave of the poor or mausoleum of the rich, whether in obscure privacy or with funereal pomp; in any case, if servants of God, we shall be compeers of Moses and Elijah, and shall appear with Christ in glory.
2. A foreshadow of heavenly fellowship. Once more, though the apostles were mainly present as witnesses, still they were representative men. They were publishers and preachers of the new economy, and thus representatives of the Christian dispensation. Here, last of all and greatest of all, was Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant and the Representative of all times. So in that heavenly state, of which the Transfiguration was merely a foreshadow, saints of all times and of all dispensations shall be found. Believers during the legal age, believers in the times of the prophets, believers in the days of the apostles, believers from then till now, and onward till the consummation of all things, shall be there; "They shall come from the east, and from the west, and from the north, and from the south, and shall sit down in the kingdom of God." Even a philosophic heathen could exult in the prospect of meeting the shades of departed worthies in a future state. "What bounds," he exclaims, "can you set to the value of conversing with Orpheus and Musaeus and Homer and Hesiod? What delight must it be to meet with Palamedes and Ajax, and others like to them! Then we should experience the wisdom of that great king who led his troops to Troy, and the prudence of Ulysses and Sisyphus." Oh, how infinitely greater and holier is the joy with which the Christian can anticipate that grand gathering of all the faithful in Christ Jesus patriarchs, prophets, apostles, martyrs, and confessors, all who purely lived and nobly died; not only the one hundred and forty-four thousand sealed ones of all the tribes of the children of Israel, but "a great multitude, that no man can number," in that day when we shall "come unto Mount Zion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels, to the general assembly and Church of the Firstborn, which are written in heaven!
3. Recognition. Here it must be observed, in passing, that the apostles at once recognize Moses and Elijah, in what manner or by what means we cannot tell; whether from their discourse, or by information from Christ, or by some spiritual intuition, we do not know. At all events, we may fairly infer from this fact that in heaven there shall be distinct recognition; otherwise the crowded ranks of the celestial inhabitants would only present one vast collection of unknown and so less interesting faces. Other Scriptures confirm this. Thus Abraham seems acquainted with all the circumstances of Lazarus" life, and Dives knows the state of his brothers on earth. Paul gives us to understand that our mental faculties shall be enlarged and expanded. Can we imagine, then, that memory alone shall be impaired and diminished? Oh, what zest such recognition wilt give to the joys of heaven! Who is not alive to the pleasures of social intercourse on earth? With what satisfaction does a happy family surround the domestic hearth, or meet round the festive board! With what delight of family and friends is the wanderer, after long years of absence, welcomed to his native land! And oh, how great shall be the joy in heaven when the faithful minister meets those to whom he had preached the gospel, telling of heaven and leading the way! Or when the man of prayer meets those for whom he had offered supplication in seasons of danger, or difficulty, or distress, or disease, or at the hour of death! Or when the spiritual teacher, whether in sabbath school, or Bible class, or cottage meeting, meets those who had been once his pupils, but are now his companions in glory!
IV CHANGE DESCRIBED.
1. The glory of his person Here we are to notice, in the first place, the glory of his person. From eternity he had been in the form (morfh) of God. This had been his original form, but in the fullness of time he took upon him the form of a servant. Now for a while he resumes the form which he had laid aside. The form of a servant is changed back (metemorfwyh) into that of Deity. He "was transfigured before them" is the statement of St. Matthew and St. Mark. The veil of mortal flesh became transparent. The glory of the Godhead broke through the concealment. Like a sudden sunburst from behind the murky clouds on a dark and wintry day, there was a glorious outburst of Divine effulgence. It irradiated his body, it diffused itself over his whole person, it surrounded him with an atmosphere of brightness and beauty. Beams of heavenly light flashed from head to foot. The whole man presented an unearthly splendor. His appearance was a reflection of that glory which he had had with the Father before all worlds, and in which he appears among the inhabitants of heaven.
2. The change of his countenance. "The fashion of his countenance was altered" is the statement of St. Luke, who, writing for Gentiles, avoids the word transformed, or metamorphosed, on account of its association with heathenism; while St. Matthew explains the nature of that alteration by saying, "His face did shine as the sun." After Moses" interview with God on Mount Sinai, the skin of his face shone so that he was obliged to cover it with a veil as soon as his public official duty had been discharged. Similarly, when Stephen, the proto-martyr, was brought before the council, "all that sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel." But in the case of Stephen and of Moses it was a borrowed brightness, whereas the Savior"s face shone with native irradiation. It was no reflected lustre, like that of the moon in the heavens, deriving all her light from the sun. The light and loveliness were all his own. The face soon to be marred more than any man, and his countenance more than the sons of men, possessed a brilliancy that was dazzling and that outrivalled the radiance of the sun at noon. That face, soon to be smitten and spit upon, and from which men hid in scorn and sorrow, now displayed a glory indescribable. The veil of humanity became too thin to hide the outshining of the divinity within. Like a magnificent temple grandly lighted up on every side and throughout its entire extent, from nave to porch and from dome to pavement, the Savior"s face and entire person the whole temple of his body was brightened up and beautified with celestial glory.
3. The glistening of his garments. Even his garments shared this heavenly transformation. They brightened, they glistened, they dazzled. The sacred penmen seem at a loss for similitudes to give us a correct notion of a change so marvellous and glorious. "White as the light," says St. Matthew; "shining, exceeding white as snow," says St. Mark; "white and glistering white and flashing forth as lightning (exastraptwn) says St. Luke. They lay both nature and art under contribution for the purpose of describing it. They became "white as snow," says one white as the snowy peak of the neighboring hill with the sunbeams resting on it; "exceeding white," he says again, "so as no fuller on earth can white them." When St. John saw him in apocalyptic vision, his head and hair were white as wool. Ages before, when Daniel saw him in prophetic vision as the Ancient of days, his garments were white as snow. On the Mount of Transfiguration his human nature was closely assimilated to his Divine nature, in which he clothes himself with light as with a garment. Such was Christ on Hermon; what must he be in heaven? Such was he in his transfigured humanity; what must be his divinity revealed? What shall he be when, with face unveiled, we shall see him as he is? But, better and more blessed still, in that day we shall be like him. If, under a former portion of this subject, we caught a glimpse of our companionship in heaven, here we get a glance at our condition in the heavenly state.
V Consequences.
1. One consequence common. Some of the consequences of the Transfiguration scene are general, and some special. There is one common to the saints of all times and of all climes. That transfigured body of Christ is the model and pattern of all the glorified. He is the Head, they are the members. "As we have borne the image of the earthly, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly." Here and now our bodies, though fearfully and wonderfully made, are bodies of humiliation. They are subject to many infirmities, liable to painful and even loathsome diseases, doomed to dissolution in a few years at most, while, worst of all, they contain the seed of sin, and their members too often are instruments of unrighteousness; "for I know," says the apostle, "that in me (that is, in my flesh) dwelleth no good thing." But these bodies of humiliation shall be fashioned like- unto Christ"s glorious body; these bodies, now "of the earth, earthy," shall be e evated to the condition of the heavenly; these bodies, now so frail, shall be endued with immortal health and vigor. Here and now the beauty of the fairest face soon fades; then the plainest face shall become beautiful, and that beauty shall be truly amaranthine. The features now saddened by sorrow, or marred by disease, or disfigured by age, shall become "bright as the sun when he goeth forth in his strength," bright as the Savior"s on the Mount of Transfiguration, bright as the face of our Lord was seen by Peter and James and John at that time, bright as it always appears to the saints in glory. Every blemish shall be blotted out, every wrinkle shall be smoothed, every disease expelled, and all decrepitude for ever removed. Then, too, on the sightless eyeballs of the blind shall flash the light of an eternal day, the ear of the deaf shall be unstopped, the tongue of the dumb sing, and the lame man for ever lay aside his lameness. Moreover, the richest raiment of earth will be but rags when compared with those robes of brightness which the ransomed in heaven wear. In view of all this may we not exclaim?"Oh for the robes of whiteness! Oh for the tearless eyes! Oh for the glorious brightness Of the unclouded skies! Oh for the no more weeping Within the land of love, The endless joy of keeping The bridal feast above!
2. An immediate consequence. Another and immediate consequence was to reconcile the disciples to the sufferings of their Master, and sustain them amid their own. Then, as now, the Jews overlooked the first appearance of Messiah in weakness, through haste for his glorious second advent. Then, as now, their pride rebelled against the idea of a suffering Savior, in their anticipation of his glory. Then, as afterwards, they looked for a great temporal potentate, to whom all thrones would be subject and whom all sovereigns would obey. They antedated the glory of his reign. But this experience of heaven upon earth, of glory so surpassing was surely enough to make amends for those disappointed hopes. It was meant also to prepare them for the approaching crisis, to comfort them when it came, and to confirm their faith in his Divine majesty, even when, as a malefactor, he was nailed to the cross.
3. An additional consequence. Again, it not only helped to reconcile the disciples to the death of their Master, but doubtless went far to comfort Immanuel himself in the near prospect of his agony and bloody sweat, and of his cross and passion. Elsewhere we are informed that, "for the joy that was set before him, he endured the cross, despising the shame." This short space of heavenly enjoyment, coming in as a parenthesis amid the wearisome struggles and strivings of earthly life, would cheer him onward towards the end. The foretaste thus afforded of the coming glory that would crown everlastingly the brief sorrows of the present would sustain him in the approaching sufferings. The cloud of witnesses that surrounds the Christian in his pilgrimage serves as a motive to urge him on, so that, laying aside every weight, he runs with patience the race set before him; so these witnesses, representative of ten thousand times ten thousand, intensely interested in the Redeemer"s work and intently looking on, would encourage the human spirit of the Savior, so that, braced with new alacrity, he would hold on the course appointed and pass through the baptism of blood. As his baptism was the commencement of his ministry, his transfiguration was his consecration to suffering.
VI THE CONVERSATION HELD.
1. The persons engaged in converse. Here were two prophetic men, of whom one died and was buried by mystic hands, no one knew how or where. "By Nebo"s lonely mountain, On this side Jordan"s wave, In a vale in the land of Moab, There lies a lonely grave. And no man knows that sepulcher, And no man saw it e"er; For the angels of God upturned the sod, And laid the dead man there. "And had he not high honor? The hillside for a pall; To lie in state while angels wait, With stars for tapers tall; And the dark rock pines, like tossing plumes, Over his bier to wave; And God"s own hand, in that lonely land, To lay him in the grave! The other never died, was never buried; but went straight from earth to heaven"All undrest From his mortal vest, He stept on the car of heavenly fire; To prove how bright Are the realms of light, Bursting at once upon the sight. And now these two visitants from the heavenly world have taken their place together on that lone mountain apart. Here also were three apostolic men the foremost of the apostolic band: John, with his heart of love; James, with his high standard of law both of them sons of thunder with outspoken courage; and Peter, honored with the keys that opened the door of faith to Jew and Gentile. "And why these?" asks the devout Bishop Hall, in his " Contemplations on the Holy Scriptures." "We may be too curious: Peter because the eldest; John because the dearest; James because, next Peter, the zealousest: Peter because he loved Christ most; John because Christ most loved him; James because, next to both, he loved and was loved most. I had rather," he adds, "to have no reason, but because it so pleased him. Why may we not as well ask why he chose these twelve from others, as why he chose three out of the twelve?" But with prophets and apostles, the foundation of the future Church, was Jesus Christ the God-man and the Church"s chief Corner-stone. The converse, however, was confined to Moses and Elias and Jesus; the apostles were only listeners. One is naturally curious to know the subject that engaged the attention of that small but wonderfully select company. The subject must have been worthy of such an august assembly.
2. The subject of conversation. What, then, was the subject that occupied them? Was it political, embracing the gate of kingdoms, or the fall of dynasties, or fast-coming times of calamity and change? Was it the extent and power and future breaking up of the great Roman empire? Was it the subjection of Palestine to Roman rule, or the relation of the Tetrarch of Galilee to the Procurator of Judea? Nothing of all this. But if the subject was not political, was it one of Jewish casuistry, such as divided the schools of Hillel and Shammai, about binding or loosing? Was it in reference to the primary or derivative prohibitions of sabbath work the avoth or the toldeth? Was it about the Halakoth or Hagadoth the rules of jurisprudence or the legends illustrative of them, and both afterwards embodied in the Gemara? None of these, or such as these, was of sufficient importance to command their attention. We might, however, reasonably enough expect that it would be the beauties of heaven, with its gates of pearl, and streets of gold, and jasper wall, and foundations of precious stones; or the grandeur of its minstrelsy and melody of its songs; or the blessedness of the heavenly state and the ecstasies of its joys, or all the untold glories of the beatific vision; or the unspeakable magnificence of the heavenly hierarchy, with its thrones and dominions and principalities and powers. And yet it was none of these. It might have been the atmosphere of heaven brought down by Christ to earth, the perfection of his life when here below, the power of his miracles, the purity of his precepts, the preciousness of his promises, his words and works of benevolence. And yet it was none of these. It was perhaps a less inviting, but certainly not leas important, theme. Over and above what is common to all the evangelists, each contributes a part peculiar to himself. As St. Mark omits mention of the change that passed over the countenance of the Savior, and fixes attention on the garments so white and glistening; so St. Luke alone records the subject about which they discoursed. Our curiosity is thus gratified at least in part. True it is that, while we are made acquainted with the topic of conversation, the evangelist gives no hint of the conversation itself. And yet perhaps we have an echo of that conversation in the writings of those favourite apostles who were privileged to form the audience on that remarkable occasion.
3. A peculiar term. That most interesting subject was the decease he was to accomplish at Jerusalem. The expression is so remarkable, it is no way strange that attention has often been directed to it. Elsewhere in Scripture death is literally spoken of, or it is represented from its physical effect as "giving up the ghost," or it is euphemistically expressed as "sleep." This latter expression, however, is never applied to the death of Christ, for that death was no babe-like slumber no gentle falling asleep. It was death in all its hideousness, in all its bitterness, with cruelly aggravated horrors and fearfully augmented terrors. In consequence of these sufferings the believer"s death is now changed into sleep, and so we read that "them who sleep by (dia) Jesus will God bring with him." The death of the Savior is here set forth as an exodov , exodus or departure, so that the term would cover all that was peculiar in the exit of Moses, or Elijah, or Christ himself; while it is the result of his own voluntary act, and an event, too, in which he was more active than passive; and so the ordinary verb eyanen is not used in his case. Likewise in the narrative of his death the evangelists use a similar expression, namely, exepneuse , "he breathed forth," St. Luke and St. Mark; "he delivered up the ghost" (paredwke), St. John; or "dismissed," sent away his spirit ( afhke), St. Matthew. The decease he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem was thus lifted up out of the rank of ordinary deaths, and raised by a whole heaven above them. It was a voluntary surrender: "No man taketh my life;" "I have power to lay it down," he said, "and power to take it again." It was vicarious as well as voluntary; for he suffered, "the just for the unjust, to bring us to God." It was valid for every expectant soul; because "to them that look for him he will appear a second time without sin unto salvation." It realized the types of the old economy, for it was the great antitype that finished all. It crowned the sacrifices under the Law; for "by one sacrifice he hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified." It fulfilled the promises of the past and guaranteed the bestowal of them all; for "he that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, shall he not with him also freely give us all things?" It put new meaning into many otherwise dark and obscure statements of Old Testament Scripture. It was the death of deaths. It was the gateway to eternal life; it "opened the door of heaven to all believers." It was an offering; for he gave himself an offering and a sacrifice of sweet-smelling savor. It was a propitiation; for "we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; and he is the Propitiation for our sins." It was a ransom; for "he came not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and give his life a ransom for many." Confessors took joyfully the spoiling of their goods, but that spoiling was the test of their own sincerity. Martyrs shed their blood unmurmuringly and even triumphantly, but the martyr"s death was the preparation for the martyr"s crown. Yet martyrs and confessors stood each in his own lot, suffering for themselves and by themselves. Not so Jesus; for others, not for himself, he drained the bitter cup; for others, not himself, he underwent the bloody baptism; for sins, but not his own, he endured the cross, despising all the pain and shame.
4. Character of their conversation. The subject, then, as we have just seen, was that death a death which patriarchs, and priests, and prophets, and pious persons under the old dispensation looked and longed for; a death which not only fulfilled the predictions, but realised the typical institutions of the old economy; that death which was the complement of the legal economy and the consummation of the Jewish Church, and which, at the same time, formed the commencement of a new epoch and of a higher order of events. What a glorious subject! More glorious far than the fate of kingdoms or the fall of kings; more glorious than all the discoveries of science, or applications of art, or improvements of society. In their conversation on this high theme they spake, no doubt, of the nature of the decease to be accomplished: of its necessity, to realize types and fulfill prophecies; to "magnify the Law and make it honorable;" to save miserable man and glorify Almighty God, restoring peace between heaven and earth, and "by one sacrifice perfecting for ever the sanctified;" to overthrow the kingdom of Satan, and diffuse light and life and love through all the world; to extract the sting of death, "destroying him that had the power of it, that is, the devil," and throwing the radiance of heavenly glory over the darkness of the tomb. They conversed, no doubt, of the travail of the Redeemer"s soul, and of his mediatorial reward in the eternal approbation of the Father, the salvation of the lost, and the praises of the redeemed for ever. Of all subjects this was the most important to men, the most interesting to Christ, and the most glorifying to God. This subject is still the great theme of the Church militant on earth, and the glorious song of the Church triumphant in heaven.
5. Apparently out of place. But glorious as the subject of conversation was,and edifying as the manner of that conversation was, it might in one sense seem inopportune. Hence says an old divine already cited (Hall, in his " Contemplations"), "A strange opportunity! in his highest exaltation to speak of his sufferings; to talk of Calvary on Tabor; when his head shone with glory, to tell him how it must bleed with thorns; when his face shone like the sun, to tell him it must be blubbered and spit upon; when his garments glistered with that celestial brightness, to tell him they must be stripped off and divided; when he was adored by the saints of heaven, to tell him how he must be scorned by the basest of men; when he was seen between two saints, to tell him how he must be seen between two malefactors: in a word, in the midst of his Divine majesty, to tell him of his shame; and, while he was transfigured on the mount, to tell him how he must be disfigured upon the cross." So thought good Bishop Hall. But this subject is never out of place, it is never out of time. It is the theme of our praises both here and hereafter, and should the subject of our prayerful meditations till we feel its transforming power, and are "changed into the same image from glory to glory, even by the Spirit of the Lord.
VII CONCLUSION,
1. St. Peter"s proposal. "Let us make three tabernacles," said Peter, "one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias." Chrysostom thinks that Peter"s object was to remain away from the holy city, and thus, by remaining on the mount and remote from Jerusalem, prevent the Savior"s sufferings. God had tabernacled in Shechinah glory, why should not the Savior embody the same? But the expression of Peter was rather the expression of an ecstasy of delight a plenitude of joy which words could not express. So great was his rapture that he wist not what he said. A little of the joy of heaven would be too much for flesh and blood it would overwhelm us. Besides, Peter was overlooking the fact that the wilderness work and warfare must needs be resumed. The journey of life was not ended. Some droppings of heavenly blessedness had transported him into rapture, but the full wealth of its downpour was not yet at hand. He antedated the bliss of heaven, forgetting for the moment that he was still on earth. More sacrifice, more suffering, more sorrow, more self-denial, more days of toil and nights of trouble, must intervene before he crossed the Jordan and entered the promised land.
2. The effect of emotion. Peter"s exclamation partook more of the emotional than of the rational. It was rather the offspring of ardent desire than of deliberate judgment. It proceeded more from the heart than from the head. But head as well as heart must be influenced by religion. If it were confined to the head, it would tend to formality; if to the heart, it might issue in fanaticism. On one hand, Peter"s exclamation was quite excusable. "It is good for us to be here," a fine thing, a pleasant thing; not good in a moral sense, which is differently expressed (agayon), but good physically (kalon), which is the expression here. If there were a place on earth of which this might be said, it was that Mount of Transfiguration. It was, perhaps, the spot on earth nearest and likest heaven. There was a hill, an emblem of heaven, which is the hill of God"s holiness. There were two saints, an epitome of heaven, representing as they did the quick and the dead those alive on earth, and the dead raised up at the day of judgment. There was the Savior himself, in uncreated light and unveiled glory, at once the Source and Centre of heavenly blessedness. There was conversation such as may be presumed to be held among the redeemed in heaven, for the burden of their song is, "Worthy is the Lamb that was slain." There, moreover, was temporary seclusion from the toil and turmoil of earth, from the business and bustle of the world, from the sorrows and sufferings of this mortal life and strife. There, too, was enjoyment of the unclouded sunshine and untroubled rest of heaven. There was a ravishing foretaste of the joys of heaven. No wonder, then, that Peter proposed to perpetuate the happiness, continue the enjoyment, and carry on the fellowship, erecting tabernacles and dwelling on the mount. But, on the other hand, there was something selfish, if not exclusive, in the proposal, for he was leaving behind his friends and fellow-worshippers on the plain below; he was speaking in forgetfulness of the bodies of the saints that slept; he was acting unreasonably in requiring Moses to forsake the Divine presence, after the uninterrupted enjoyment thereof during fifteen centuries, for a tent-like dwelling, and Elijah to forget the car of fire in which he had gone up, and now abide below; he was strangely overlooking the recent subject of discourse with which Moses and Elijah had been so occupied the decease that was to be accomplished, the death to be endured, the redemption to be effected, the sacrifice to be offered, and the salvation to be procured. In entire obliviousness of, or indifference to, all this, his proposal was to forestall the future and have a present heaven upon earth. In momentary rapture he forgot he was still in a scene of pilgrimage and in a state of sojourn; he forgot he was a stranger in a strange land, which was neither his rest nor his home, and where no abiding city is to be found. He forgot that the Christian"s life is a journey; and what traveler can reach his destination without the toil of travelling? He forgot life is a race; and where is the racer who is rewarded without a struggle, and who, without running, yet obtains the prize? He forgot that life is a warfare, in which a fight, a hard fight, is to be fought before the combat is ended and the conqueror crowned. It is only when we shall have fought the good fight, and finished our course, and kept the faith, that we may say with Paul, "Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of glory, which God, the righteous Judge, will give me at that day." But Peter wist not what (lalhsh) he should speak: he wist not even what he (legei) actually does say so enraptured was he with delight, so carried out of himself by the extraordinary occurrence, and so bewildered with terror at the same time.
3. Due in part to sleep. Further, and finally, they had been "heavy with sleep," but either kept awake throughout it, or awoke after an interval, or rather started all at once into perfect wakefulness, now wide awake and fully alive to all that was seen or said. They had been asleep, wrapped perhaps in their abbas, according to Oriental fashion, on the ground, when the celestial light, bursting upon them, roused them thoroughly so as to witness all that transpired.
4. Miscellaneous remarks.
(1) The disciples thought this was the predicted coming of Elijah, but our Lord corrects their mistake, and tells them he had already come in the person of John the Baptist; and as the prediction relating to John has been fulfilled, a fortiori will the prediction of Messiah"s sufferings be fulfilled. Thus the seemingly awkward clause, "and how it is written of the Son of man," is best explained (a) as a parenthetic exposition of the preceding clause, and an afortiori confirmation of the succeeding one. There is, however, (b) another explanation which takes "how" as directly interrogatory; thus, "But how is it written of the Son of man? that he must suffer many things, and be set at nought;" so that, after the coming of Elijah had been stated, the object of Messiah"s coming is specified by way of question and answer: "For what purpose is it written that Messiah cometh?" In order that he may come to suffer as a malefactor, not to conquer as a warrior.
(2) The apostles were sorely puzzled about "the rising from the dead." This does not refer to the general doctrine of the resurrection of the dead, which must have been known to them and believed by them; but they regarded that resurrection as far off, and understood, and rightly understood, our Lord to speak of a resurrection near at hand, affecting himself in some mysterious way which they did not then comprehend, and which they were only convinced of by that wondrous event itself when it actually occurred.
(3) The conversation before and the miracle after it he Transfiguration are equally recorded by all three synoptists. In the narrative the prostration through fear is peculiar to St. Matthew; the subject of conversation to St. Luke, as we have seen; while the sudden departure of the heavenly visitants, and the perplexed questioning about the rising from the dead, are only related by St. Mark.
(4) His teaching henceforth turned towards the cross; while his miracles between this and his passion were confined to five. J.J.G.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v1 And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter.
Mar_9:1-10
And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter.
Read full note →
Mans transformation
The transfiguration of our Lord admonishes us of a change which we are to undergo in this life. We must be conformed in our souls and spirits, and the use of our bodies, to the image of the Son of God (Rom_8:29), while we are here, so that we may be conformed to the body of His glory hereafter (Php_3:21). O, then, what a stake have we in our treatment of this body. We must keep it in all holiness, even on its own account, and not only because it ministers to soul and spirit. In this same body we are to meet the Lord, and upon the use of it depends the condition in which we shall meet Him, in glory or contempt. We must serve Him and do His work in it now, if we hope to serve Him in it in His heavenly and everlasting kingdom hereafter. But how can we serve Him in it, if we employ it in the service of a different and contrary master? And how can we keep it pure and undefiled as His peculiar vessel, if we be not watchful against the advances of that master, who has so many natural friends in its house? For has not Satan fast friends in its corrupt affections and sinful passions? Look at the man who has clouded his reason, palsied his limbs, by strong drink. See the disgusting, degrading spectacle of his helplessness; hear the revilings, the folly, the blasphemings of his imperfect speech. Can such a one entertain any serious thoughts about the body that shall be? Can he be living in the hope of being glorified together with Jesus Christ? See another man. His body is seen anywhere else but in this place, where is the assembling of the body of Christ in one body, one spirit, to give glory and worship to our great Head, with one mind, with one mouth; to stand before that throne where sits the Son of Man at the right hand of God, in that body which suffered and rose again. What can he care about the most precious privilege of the body that shall he; the standing face to face before his Saviour in a like body, amid the company of His saints in glorified bodies? In the same manner we may go on and deal with sins less open and gross than these, and show how inconsistent they all are with any hope of a joyful resurrection in a glorified body; and how necessary is the bath of tears of repentance to all who commit them, that so their sins may be washed out for the sake of Jesus Christ, and they may be found of Him in peace, without spot, and blameless. Now, therefore, while yet it is the season, let us do the things which concern the body that shall be. Our present body is the seed of the body to come. It may be as unlike it, as the small black shapeless seed of the tulip is to that beautiful flower. Still it is the seed, and according as we sow it, we shall reap. If it go into the ground laden with sin, ignorant of Gods service, the mere corrupt remains of what has been expended in folly, in idleness, in unprofitableness, in rebellion against the commandments of God, in neglect of duties, in abuse of privileges, then it will come out of it a vile and noxious weed, which shall be cast into the everlasting fire. But if the sinner shall turn away from his sin, and by a change of heart and life conform to the example of Christ; if he will take his body out of the service of sin, and conformity to the world, and use it in the service of righteousness; if he will thus, in this world, be transformed into the likeness of the body of Christ, in all temperance, in all purity, in all deeds of holy living, then he will have sown to the Spirit; and of the Spirit he shall, through the Lord and Giver of life, reap life everlasting. In a body, no longer of flesh and blood (which cannot inherit the kingdom of heaven), in a spiritual body, compared with the glory and powers of which the most beautiful body in the flesh is corruption, the strongest and most healthy is the impotence of death; he shall stand on the everlasting mount of heaven, transfigured from this mortal body in the raiment of a body shining as the sun, white as no fuller on earth can white, and gathered into the company of the sons of God, such as Moses and Elias, and beholding the Son of God in eternal glory face to face, shall say with the joyful cry of the song of the full sense of thankful blessedness, Master, it is good for us to be here. (R. W. Evans.)
On the Holy Mount
I. That seclusion is needed for the highest devotion.
II. That a devotional spirit sees new glory in Christ and in His Word.
III. That devotion is not the whole life.
IV. That devotion furnishes support for the performance of the duties and the endurance of the trials of life. (W. M. Taylor, D. D.)
Christ the light of the body
There were other wonders in that glorious vision besides the countenance of our Lord. His raiment, too, was changed, and became all brilliant, white as the light itself. Was not that a lesson to them? Was it not as if our Lord had said to them, I am a king, and have put on glorious apparel, but whence does the glory of My raiment come? I have no need of fine linen, and purple, and embroidery, the work of mens hands; I have no need to send My subjects to mires and caves to dig gold and jewels to adorn My crown: the earth is Mine, and the fulness thereof. All this glorious earth, with its trees and its flowers, its sunbeams and its storms, is Mine. I made it-I can do what I will with it. All the mysterious laws by which the light and the heat flow out forever from Gods throne, to lighten the sun, and the moon, and the stars of heaven-they are Mine. I am the light of the world-the light of mens bodies as well as of their souls; and here is My proof of it. Look at Me. I am He that decketh Himself with light as it were with a garment, who layeth the beams of His chambers in the waters, and walketh upon the wings of the wind. This was the message which Christs glory brought the apostles-a message which they could never forget. The spiritual glory of His countenance had shown them that He was a spiritual king-that His strength lay in the spirit of power, and wisdom, and beauty, and love, which God had given Him without measure; and it showed them, too, that there was such a thing as a spiritual body, such a body as each of us some day shall have if we be found in Christ at the resurrection of the just-a body which shall not hide a mans spirit when it becomes subject to the wear and tear of life, and disease, and decay; but a spiritual body-a body which shall be filled with our spirits, which shall be perfectly obedient to our spirits-a body through which the glory of our spirits shall shine out, as the glory of Christs Spirit shone out through His body at the transfiguration. Brethren, we know not yet what we shall be, but this we do know, that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is (1Jn_3:3). (C. Kingsley, M. A.)
The influence of heaven here below
The spirits, good and bad, are all about us. There are no communications from the spirits, but they are here and interested in our affairs. The angels are here. Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation? And the fallen spirits are here as well. Who dare say that there are not demoniac possessions today? They are not common in Christian lauds but I cannot regard them impossible. Men sometimes become satanically ugly from no other apparent cause than that they give loose rein to their passions, gratify them without restraint, and so lose, in time, all power of controlling their passions by any consideration of self-interest. The assassin Guiteau was such a man, and there is little doubt that Guiteau was possessed of devils. We are told that our adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour. No doubt that the unseen world enwraps us, while we must guard ourselves most sedulously from the superstition and deception too often connected with the truth. (A. P. Foster.)
Ecstasy cannot be continued
Be patient in the darkness; you cannot have the light all the time. Peter would have three tabernacles. No, no! it was not best. We can have no continuing ecstasy. It would rack the soul to pieces. Many have glimpses, but no eye can look steadily on the sun. We must console ourselves with memories and anticipations. These supreme moments which come to us occasionally in the Christian life are foretastes of the heavenly bliss. (A. P. Foster.)
A vision of home
Years ago, after a weary climb up the flank of a high mountain, a friend led me by a path through the woods to the head of a gorge. On either side, to right and left, stood the huge mountain, while before us, at the end of a mighty gulf, was an enchanting vista. Five or six miles away a village was full in sight, nestling among the hills, surrounded with lovely green, and encircled with glories such as only a setting sun can paint on the western sky. There was our home. Now, beyond doubt, the vision on Tabor was to the wearied disciples, whose feet already had begun to tread a dark and dangerous road, far more wonderful and delightful. It was to them a glimpse of home. Far off, indeed, it seemed, and yet there at the end were glories ineffable.
The transfiguration and its teachings
God leaves not His people in the midst of many and sore trials, without vouchsafing to them occasional periods of spiritual refreshment. The sight then given to them of the King in His beauty left a heavenly savour upon the souls of the disciples, which abode with them to their dying day.
I. The glimpses of Christ obtained, and the foretastes of glory experienced, in the sanctuary. Between that holy mountain and a Christian sanctuary many points of resemblance are discoverable.
1. The mountain summit is a secluded spot, removed from the din and turmoil of the earth; the house of God is a spot from which worldly affairs and associations are excluded; where the things of time and sense fall into the background.
2. The holy hill was made by Jesus a place of prayer. Gods house is a house of prayer. It is chiefly in the holy converse with God which is there carried on that the furrows of care and sorrow are obliterated from his brow, the earthliness of his spirit is worn away, and its features made to glow with a tinge of heavenly lustre.
3. The holy hill was a mountain of testimony. A two-fold testimony was here borne to Jesus. Jesus alone remained: a token that He fulfilled the Law and Prophets. Also, This is My beloved Son. In the preached word in the sanctuary man bears his testimony to Christ: a suffering Redeemer should be presented to the mind of the people in Gods house of prayer. Also the Holy Spirit glorifies Christ-He shall testify of Me.
4. In both places alike slumberers are awakened-Peter and they that were with Him were heavy with sleep, and when they were awake they saw His glory: a beautiful emblem of the Word of God reaching down to the sinners heart through the joints of a harness of insensibility, and rousing him from the death-like trance of sin to an apprehension of spiritual truth. When such an one is awakened, his attention is first engaged with the Saviours glory. The Light of the World is the central object on which his eye fastens. But after the soul has once apprehended the beauty and excellency of Christ, its views of Him in all His offices are continually enlarged. Fresh glimpses of the Kings beauty are vouchsafed to it from time to time in the sanctuary.
II. The design with which such glimpses of Christ and foretastes of glory are vouchsafed.
1. One main design of the transfiguration in reference to the apostles was to strengthen their faith in their Masters Divinity.
2. Another design was, doubtless, to nerve and prepare the apostles for endurance in the cause of Christ.
III. The temporary and transient character of these glimpses of Christ and foretastes of glory which the people of God experience here below.
1. Much as we could wish to retail that enjoyable sense of Gods presence, yet it is Gods will that after we have refreshed our spirits by these foretastes of glory, we should, in the strength of that meat, descend once again to the plain and encounter, for a few years more, the buffetings of the world. The soul cannot always be in its pleasant places, nor, while this life lasts, does God intend that it should. There is a daily round of duty which it is the Lords will that we shall execute as His appointed task. Genuine apprehensions of Christs love are incentives to exertion, not to sloth and self-indulgence.
2. The questioning which, when our Lord approached the multitude, was being carried on between the scribes and His disciples. The first sounds which greeted His Divine ear on reaching the plain were sounds of debate. Nothing grates with more harshness on the ear of one accustomed to hold communion with God, and to live much in a spiritual atmosphere, than religious controversy. Those who are called to controversy should be much in the sanctuary, and submit a willing ear to the testimony of Jesus. (Dean Goulburn.)
The transfiguration of Christ
I. What the disciples saw-He was transfigured before them.
1. The unveiled glory of Christ.
2. The glorified attendants from the world of spirits.
3. The bright cloud of the Divine Presence. Not a dark cloud as under the old dispensation, but a cloud of light.
II. What the disciples heard.
1. An affecting conversation.
2. An approving testimony.
3. An authoritative command.
III. What the disciples felt.
1. The blessedness of heavenly society.
2. A solemn awe-sore afraid.
3. The Saviours touch.
IV. Practical instructions.
1. This manifestation was given to disciples.
2. This communication was given whilst they were praying.
3. To prepare them for future trials. (W. J. Brock, B. A.)
Transfiguration of Christ
1. One design of the transfiguration, undoubtedly, was to give the disciples some idea of Christs future appearance, when He should come in His kingdom.
2. But, again, another purpose of the transfiguration was probably to honour Christ and His gospel.
3. But, again, we have in this narrative, in strong contrast with the glories of the transfiguration, the weakness of poor humanity.
4. But why, let us again ask, has our Church selected such a portion of Scripture as this to be read at this season? It seems, at first view, very inappropriate. What have we to do in Lent with the glories of the transfiguration? Why, when we are called to humble ourselves in prayer and confession of sin, are we directed to such a portion of Gods Word as this? Because the most remarkable feature in this transaction was, that amid the splendours of that transfiguration, the death of Christ has the most prominent place. (W. H. Lewis, D. D.)
The use of religious excitement
Vivid emotions are, by the law of their being, transient. They cannot last. Possibly, their very intensity is, roughly speaking, the measure of their evanescence. Souls cannot live and work on day by day with the emotions at high pressure. Now, what is to be said of these Occasional times of excited feeling?
I. That no man must take religious feeling for religion. But after that, what? That all such excited feelings are false, and hollow, and perilous, and must, therefore, be at once suppressed? That plain, simple obedience to Gods will is all in all, and, therefore, all deep emotions are evil and to be avoided? Surely, no. Surely, the true thing to be said is this, that God gives these periods of strong feeling as mighty helps to our weak and wavering courage; that they are a spur to the halting obedience, and a goad to the reluctant will. True, these feelings must be guided and regulated and led into practical channels, else, of course, they will run to waste, and leave behind them only the barrenness of a field, over which the flood has rushed headlong in its devastating course. I am not speaking of ungoverned and fanatical excitement, but of deep and powerful religious emotion, when I say that God gives it to carry us by its force over the earlier difficulties of the new and converted life, or to nerve us to resolutions and set us upon courses of action, which would, probably, be impossible to the calculating calmness of dispassionate reason. But I think, my brethren, these times of unusual religious fervour have another use. They open to the soul visions of a state of love, and joy, and heavenly mindedness, which, if afterwards they turn into nothing but regret and longing, nevertheless, leave behind them a blessing. It is good for the weary toiler, conscious of his cold, shallow heartedness, the poverty of his faith, and love, and hope, to be able to say, though sighing as he says it:-I have known the blessedness of a bright, triumphant faith. I have understood what it is to pray with holy fervour. Can it be well to say, I have known, when it were so much better to be able to say, I know? Yes, I think it is well; for, if he be wise who says it, he will know that these higher, deeper, keener feelings cannot be always with him. He will gather up the truths and the duties they have brought to him, as we gather up the bright shells and gem-like pebbles on the seashore when the spring tide has ebbed. Those will be kept, when the surging waves that bore them to our feet have retired. He will regard the swelling of his emotions, when the sun of Gods grace has melted the snow of his chilled heart as the overflow of a river; and he will no more expect the flow of his religious feeling to maintain the fulness and force to which it has at times risen, than he would expect a river to be always at the flood. Let us once realize that these more vivid religious emotions are occasional helps and not permanent states, that they reveal to us what might be, but for the weakness and earthliness of our nature, and are in themselves no proofs of high attainments of grace, and then we may thank God for them, and not be afraid or ashamed to say, I have known, when we dare not say, I know.
II. How far is religious emotion to form any part of our daily religious life; or, in other words, how far are the feelings to be regularly employed in the service of God? What shall we say as to ordinary religious emotion? Is it a good thing or a bad thing? Assuredly, as I repeat, our feelings were not given us for the purpose of being crushed out. Our religion is not one of mere dry duty. The very fact that love holds so prominent a place in it is a proof that, at least, some amount of religious feeling is necessary for a true religious life. But I would ask this: If we read our Bibles candidly, does it not seem that a greater amount of religious emotion is expected to find place in the daily life of Christian men than is commonly felt or commonly supposed? St. Paul was a most thoroughly practical man, eminently a man of action, always up and doing. He surely was one who would scorn to let feeling take the place of obedience, or to suffer the simple daily duties of life to escape under the cloak of heavenly aspirations and high-flown sentiment; yet, if anything is plain in his Epistles, it is that the life of duty, however rigid and self-sacrificing, without love, joy, peace-a life of obedience, in other words, without emotion, would utterly fail to satisfy him. Has, in a word, even excitement no work to do, no end to answer, in the daily Christian life? Take any keen, eager, impulsive, excitable person, may I not believe that God gave such person the power of quick impulse and eager aspiration for some worthy end? What is that end, my brethren? Is it to enjoy a ball, or a novel, or a sport? One would really think so when one hears of so many people who, themselves keenly enjoying all manner of worldly amusements, and throwing themselves into them heart and soul, as we say, when they see others as keenly and engrossingly giving themselves to religious occupations, settle the matter with a self-satisfied smile by saying, Oh, it is all excitement! Might it not be a better way of looking at it if they should think and say, I dont know how such an one can enjoy so much religion. I only know I dont and cant. I wish I could. I wish I could take delight in high and holy things. (Bishop Walsham How.)
The lessons of the transfiguration
The practical question for us to consider is this-How does the transfiguration fit into our lives? What should be its effect on us?
I. It confirms our faith in Christ as the true redeemer of men. Ii. It should animate us to follow Christ in the way of the cross. Our Lord, after announcing that He must needs die, taught His disciples that they must die with Him and like Him; that they, too, must deny themselves and take up the cross; that they must lose their life in order to save it; that to gain the whole world and lose their own souls would be but a sorry exchange; and that, if they were afraid or ashamed thus to follow Him, He would be ashamed of them when He came in the glory of His Father and of the holy angels (St. Mat_16:21-28; St. Mar_8:31-38; St. Luk_9:21-26). Self-sacrifice is the law of the highest life; we can only rise into the life of love as we deny and crucify the self in us; we must die to the flesh if we would live and walk in the spirit; the body must die before we can rise into a sinless and perfect life. In one word, religion must be a life-long effort, a life-long sacrifice. Not in mere enjoyment, even though it be an enjoyment of worship, of growth in knowledge, or of quick spiritual response to fine thoughts and pure impulses, but by toil, by self-denial, by really spending ourselves in the service of God and man, by a constant reaching forth after still higher and nobler aims, do we rise into the life and follow the example of Christ Jesus our Lord. Try yourselves by this test, then. Ask yourselves whether your religion has yet become a sacred and inspiring reality to you, making toil, pain, sacrifice, death itself, welcome to you, if you may thus win Christ and be found in Him. (S. Cox, D. D.)
Elias with Moses
Reasons are not far to find why these two should be brought back together from the other world to take part in the scene.
I. They were the representatives of the quick and dead. Moses had died; Elijah had ascended alive into heaven. They were types of the two great divisions which shall appear before the same Lord when He comes in the glory of which that was a glimpse and foretaste, the dead and the living both standing before the judgment seat of Christ.
II. Both had passed from earth in mystery: the first buried by the hand of God in some unfrequented valley apart from his countrymen; the other not dying, but vanishing instantaneously in the midst of life. Both had disappeared, no more to be seen by mortal eye till, in far-distant times, the same Hand that had carried them away should bring them back on the Mount of Transfiguration. It suggests the mighty truth, that, however we are taken, whether lost to men in the depth of the sea, or consumed by the devouring fire, it matters nothing to the Great Keeper of His people, Who will bring all back again at the last day.
III. But the chief motive, no doubt, was to unite the representatives of the three great Dispensations of Divine government-the Law, the Prophets, and the Gospel. (H. M. Luckock, D. D.)
The transfiguration gives us a pledge and earnest of our personal identity in the risen state
And doubtless one reason for the preservation of our identity is for mutual recognition-that we may know hereafter those whom we have known in the flesh. It puts before us a powerful incentive to make friends on earth with whom we may spend not only the life here, but the eternal life in heaven. Again, the scene opens up a further field of thought, when we recall the fact that St. Peter was able to recognize Moses and Elijah, though he had never seen them in the flesh. Shall we, then, recognize the great saints in the world to come, whom we have learnt by the study of their lives and work to know as though we had seen them face to face? There was clearly something-it, may have been some lingerings of the splendour which illumined his face after communing with God, which painters have tried to express by the familiar horns of light-we cannot tell what it was, but it satisfied the apostle that the form was none other than that of Moses. Will there be nothing by which, in like manner, we shall recognize the Baptist, or the Beloved Disciple, or the Blessed Virgin, or Mary of Magdala? Will the student of theology, who has read the mind of St. Augustine, or pictured the fiery Athanase, with his feeble frame but lion heart, confronting the world for the great mystery of the Blessed Trinity, find no means of identifying them when they meet hereafter? Will there be nothing to mark painters like Fra Angelico or Raphael, or poets such as Dante, or Tasso, or Milton? It must surely be that marks of recognition, in all who have witnessed for God and moulded the minds of men by their words or works, will not be wanting. (H. M. Luckock, D. D.)
It is good for us to be here
If any earthly place or condition might have given warrant to Peters motion, this was it.
1. Here was a hill-the emblem of heaven.
2. Here were two saints-the epitome of heaven.
3. Here was Christ-the God of heaven. (Bishop Hall.)
Peter and his fellows were so taken with the sight of the felicity they saw, that they desired to abide on the mount with Jesus and the saints. What moved them shows what will delight us when this transient world is over, and God will gather His people to Himself.
1. Here was but Hermon; and there will be heaven.
2. Here were but two saints; there, the mighty multitude no man can number.
3. Here was but Christ transfigured; there, He will sit at the right hand of God, enthroned in the majesty of heaven.
4. Here was a representation for a brief interval; there, a gift and permanent possession of blessedness. (T. M. Lindsay, D. D.)
The transfiguration teaches us that
(1) Special manifestations of favour attend entire submission to the Divine will;
(2) outward splendour is the proper accompaniment of inward excellence;
(3) Christ is attested to men as the object of Divine approval and delight;
(4) therefore they should love and trust, honour and obey Him;
(5) first lessons are to be retained, that further may be received;
(6) prophecy teaches that suffering belongs to the present service of God. (J. H. Godwin.)
The transfiguration
The Saviour was strengthened for conflict. Moses and Elias talked with Him, not concerning the dark aspects of His death, but its wonderful effects.
I. The transfiguration was a preparation for the disciples. They saw some manifestation of their Masters glory. How greatly this would strengthen them. Was a source of comfort in after times.
II. The transfiguration has its practical lessons for us.
1. The mountain of prayer is always the mountain of transfiguration. If we would have our trials and sorrows transfigured, we must get up into the mount of converse with God. Here we see them in their dark aspect, only there can we learn how to glory in tribulation.
2. The hour of prayer is often a foretaste of future joy.
3. Let us always remember the decease which Jesus accomplished at Jerusalem. Christs death is our one all-powerful argument with God. All blessing to the world, and to us, comes through that precious death. In heaven much of our converse will be of the decease, etc. (J. W. Boulding.)
The glorified saint
Every faculty, thought, and emotion shall reflect His holiness, truth, and love. The leafless tree, trembling in the cold blast of the winter winds, is the image of what we now are; the same tree covered with foliage, blossoms, and fruit, is the symbol of what the sanctified soul shall be. The dark sorrowful cloud hanging heavily in the atmosphere represents our present state; that cloud penetrated by the rays of the morning light, fringed with gold, made luminous and beautiful by the splendour of the rising sun, is the expression of the glory that shall be revealed in the spirits of redeemed men. The mind shall be illumined with the pure light of knowledge unmingled with error; the heart shall be filled with all the emotions which constitute perfect bliss; the imagination shall soar to the highest regions and present nothing to the soul but visions of truth and beauty. The whole nature shall be in harmony with itself, with God, with the holy intelligences of the spirit world, and with all the circumstances in which it shall forever exist. (Thomas Jones.)
Dust of gold gathered from a variety of authors
The decease was the keystone of the arch of glory. (J. Morison, D. D.)
In the interior of Christs being there must have been an infinite fulness of heavenliness, of all that constitutes the essential glory of heaven. (J. Morison, D. D.)
Hear ye Him, for His words embody the very thoughts, desires, and determinations of the Divine Mind. (J. Morison, D. D.)
The name of the mountain is not mentioned, and thereby superstition is prevented. (Bengel.)
The cloud shows that human nature cannot bear the glory of God without admixture or interposition. (Bengel.)
Ah! bright manifestations in this vale of tears are always departing manifestations. (Dr. Brown.)
How can we hope ever to be transfigured from a lump of corrupt flesh if we do not ascend and pray? (Hall.)
Exceptional hours in life
There are exceptional hours in human history, when men utter words which attest the grandeur of the human mind, when the countenance burns with the fire of intelligent enthusiasm, and the voice reaches a tone of purer music than is born of earth; and in those exceptional hours we see somewhat of the dignity of human nature. Multiply this by infinitude, and we shall know something of what the disciples saw when Christs face did shine as the sun, and His raiment was white as the light. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The hiding of the higher life
The hiding of the higher life will be in proportion to its compass and elevation. The young Christian talks more of his experience than the old Christian, just as a rill may make more noise than a river. An ordinary mother talks much of her child; but the mother of Christ kept all these things, and pondered them in her heart. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Secrecy enjoined till the Son of Man be risen from the dead
I. Christs life not to be told in fragments.
II. The parts of Christs life are mutually explanatory.
III. The resurrection of Christ, the great reconciling and all-explaining fact in His ministry. His profoundest words would have had no meaning had He not known that He would rise again from the dead. (J. Parker, D. D.)
Moses and Elias talking with Jesus
I. Deputed men are still living.
II. Death does not destroy the individuality of men.
III. The greatest of departed men are interested in the work of Christ.
IV. Immediate personal communication between departed spirits and men yet in the flesh is possible. (J. Parker, D. D.)
The transfiguration of Christ
To what may we compare this wonderful change? Suppose you have before you the bulbous root of the lily plant. You look at it carefully, but there is nothing attractive about it. How rough and unsightly it appears! You close your eyes upon it for a brief space. You open them again. But what a change has taken place! That plain, homely-looking bulb has disappeared, and in its place there stands before you the lily plant. It has reached its mature growth. Its flower is fully developed, and blooming in all its matchless beauty! What a marvellous change that would be! And yet it would be but a feeble illustration of the more wonderful change that took place in our Saviour at His transfiguration. Here is another illustration. Suppose we are looking at the western sky, towards the close of day. Great masses of dark clouds are covering all that part of the heavens. They are but common clouds. There is nothing attractive or interesting about them. We do not care to take a second look at them. We turn from them for a little while, and then look at them again. In the meantime the setting sun has thrown his glorious beams upon them. How changed they now appear! All that was common place and unattractive about them is gone. How they glow and sparkle! Gold, and purple, and all the colours of the rainbow are blending, how beautifully, there! Are these the same dull clouds that we looked upon a few moments before? Yes; but they have been transfigured. A wonderful change has come over them. And here we have an illustration of our Lords Transfiguration. The first wonder about this incident in His life is the wonderful change which took place in His appearance then. (Dr. Newton.)
How we know there is a heaven
A Sunday school teacher was talking to one of her scholars about heaven, and the glory we shall have when we reach that blessed place. He was a bright boy, about nine or ten years old, named Charlie. After listening to her for a while, he said: But you have never been there, Miss D., and how do you know there really is any such place? Charlie, said the teacher, you have never been to London; how do you know there is such a city? O, I know that very well, said Charlie, because my father is there; and he has sent me a letter, telling me all about it. And God, my Father, is in the heavenly city, said Miss D., and he has sent me a letter, telling me about the glory of heaven, and about the way to get there. The Bible is Gods letter. Yes, I see, said Charlie, after thinking awhile, there must be a heaven, if you have got such a nice long letter from there. The lesson of hope is the first lesson taught us by the transfiguration. (Dr. Newton.)
The decease at Jerusalem; or, the power of the cross
A heathen ruler had heard the story of the cross, and desired to know its power. When he was sick, and near his end, he told his servants to make him a large wooden cross, and lay it down in his chamber. When this was done, he said: Take rue now and lay me on the cross, and let me die there. As he lay there dying, he looked in faith to the blood of Christ that was shed upon the cross, and said: It lifts me up: it lifts me. Jesus saves me! and thus he died. It was not that wooden cross that saved him; but the death of Christ, on the cross to which He was nailed-the death of which Moses and Elias talked with Him, that saved this heathen man. They knew what a blessing His death would be to the world, and this was why they talked about this death. (Dr. Newton.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v2 Chapter 9
Chapter 9
CHAPTER 9:2-8 (Mar_9:2-8)
Read full note →
THE TRANSFIGURATION
"And after six days Jesus taketh with Him Peter, and James, and John, and bringeth them up into a high mountain apart by themselves: and He was transfigured before them: and His garments became glistening, exceeding white: so as no fuller on earth can whiten them. And there appeared unto them Elijah with Moses: and they were talking with Jesus. And Peter answered and saith to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for Thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah. For he wist not what to answer; for they became sore afraid. And there came a cloud overshadowing them: and there came a voice out of the cloud, This is My beloved Son: hear ye Him. And suddenly looking round about, they saw no one any more, save Jesus only with themselves." Mar_9:2-8 (R.V.)
THE Transfiguration is an event without a parallel in all the story of our Lord. This breaking forth of unearthly splendor in a life of self-negation, this miracle wrought without suffering to be relieved or want supplied, and in which He seems to be not the Giver of Help but the Receiver of Glory, arrests our attention less by the greatness of the marvel than by its loneliness.
But if myth or legend had to do with the making of our Gospels, we should have had wonders enough which bless no suppliant, but only crown the sacred head with laurels. They are as plentiful in the false Gospels as in the later stories of Mahomed or Gautama. Can we find a sufficient difference between these romantic tales and this memorable event--causes enough to lead up to it, and ends enough for it to serve?
An answer is hinted by the stress laid in all three narratives upon the date of the Transfiguration. It was "after six days" according to the first two. St. Luke reckons the broken portions of the first day and the last, and makes it "about eight days after these sayings." A week has passed since the solemn announcement that their Lord was journeying to a cruel death, that self pity was discordant with the things of God, that all His followers must in spirit endure the cross, that life was to be won by losing it. Of that week no action is recorded, and we may well believe that it was spent in profound searchings of heart. The thief Iscariot would more than ever be estranged. The rest would aspire and struggle and recoil, and explain away His words in such strange ways, as when they presently failed to understand what the rising again from the dead should mean (Mar_9:10). But in the deep heart of Jesus there was peace, the same which He bequeathed to all His followers, the perfect calm of an absolutely surrendered will. He had made the dread announcement and rejected the insidious appeal; the sacrifice was already accomplished in His inner self, and the word spoken, Lo, I come to do Thy will, O God. We must steadily resist the notion that the Transfiguration was required to confirm His consecration; or, after six days had passed since He bade Satan get behind Him, to complete and perfect His decision. Yet doubtless it had its meaning for Him also. Such times of more than heroic self-devotion make large demands upon the vital energies. And He whom the angels more than once sustained, now sought refreshment in the pure air and solemn silence of the hills, and above all in communion with His Father, since we read in St. Luke that He went up to pray.
Who shall say how far-reaching, how all-embracing such a prayer would be? What age, what race may not hope to have shared its intercessions, remembering how He once expressly prayed not for His immediate followers alone. But we need not doubt that now, as in the Garden, He prayed also for Himself, and for support in the approaching death-struggle. And the Twelve, so keenly tried, would be especially remembered in this season. And even among these there would be distinctions; for we know His manner, we remember that when Satan claimed to have them all, Jesus prayed especially for Peter, because his conversion would strengthen his brethren. Now this principle of benefit to all through the selection of the fittest, explains why three were chosen to be the eye-witnesses of His glory. If the others had been there, perhaps they would have been led away into millennarian day-dreams. Perhaps the worldly aspirations of Judas, thus inflamed, would have spread far. Perhaps they would have murmured against that return to common life, which St. Peter was so anxious to postpone. Perhaps even the chosen three were only saved from intoxication and delusive hopes by the sobering knowledge that what they had seen was to remain a secret until some intervening and mysterious event. The unripeness of the others for special revelations was abundantly shown, on the morrow, by their failure to cast out a devil. It was enough that their leaders should have this grand confirmation of their faith. There was among them, henceforth, a secret fountain of encouragement and trust, amid the darkest circumstances. The panic in which all forsook Him might have been final, but for this vision of His glory. For it is noteworthy that these three are the foremost afterwards in sincere though frail devotion: one offering to die with Him, and the others desiring to drink of His cup and to be baptized with His baptism.
While Jesus prays for them, He is Himself made the source of their revival. He had lately promised that they who willed to lose their life should find it unto life eternal. And now, in Him who had perfectly so willed, they beheld the eternal glory beaming forth, until His very garments were steeped in light. There is no need of proof that the spirit has power over the body; the question is only of degree. Vile passions can permanently degrade human comeliness. And there is a beauty beyond that of line or color, seen in vivid hours of emotion, on the features of a mother beside her sleeping babe, of an orator when his soul burns within him, of a martyr when his face is as the face of an angel, and often making fairer than youthful bloom the old age that has suffered long and been kind. These help us, however faintly, to believe that there is a spiritual body, and that we may yet bear the image of the heavenly. And so once, if only once, it is given to sinful men to see how a perfect spirit can illuminate its fleshly tabernacle, as a flame illuminates a lamp, and what the life is like in which self-crucifixion issues. In this hour of rapt devotion His body was steeped in the splendor which was natural to holiness, and which would never have grown dim but that the great sacrifice had still to be carried out in action. We shall best think of the glories of transfiguration not as poured over Jesus, but as a revelation from within.
Moreover, while they gaze, the conquering chiefs of the Old Testament approach the Man of Sorrows. Because the spirit of the hour is that of self-devotion, they see not Abraham, the prosperous friend of God, nor Isaiah whose burning words befit the lips that were touched by fire from an unearthly altar, but the heroic law-giver and the lion-hearted prophet, the typical champions of the ancient dispensation. Elijah had not seen death; a majestic obscurity veiled the ashes of Moses from excess of honor; yet these were not offended by the cross which tried so cruelly the faith of the apostles. They spoke of His decease, and their word seems to have lingered in the narrative as strangely appropriate to one of the speakers; it is Christ's "exodus." [7]
But St. Mark does not linger over this detail, nor mention the drowsiness with which they struggled; he leans all the weight of his vivid narrative upon one great fact, the evidence now given of our Lord's absolute supremacy.
For, at this juncture Peter interposed. He "answered," a phrase which points to his consciousness that he was no unconcerned bystander, that the vision was in some degree addressed to him and his companions. But he answers at random, and like a man distraught. "Lord, it is good for us to be here," as if it were not always good to be where Jesus led, even though men should bear a cross to follow Him. Intoxicated by the joy of seeing the King in His beauty, and doubtless by the revulsion of new hope in the stead of his dolorous forebodings, he proposes to linger there. He will have more than is granted, just as, when Jesus washed his feet, he said "not my feet only, but also my hands and my head." And if this might be, it was fitting that these superhuman personages should have tabernacles made for them. No doubt the assertion that he wist not what to say, bears specially upon this strange offer to shelter glorified bodies from the night air, and to provide for each a place of separate repose. The words are incoherent, but they are quite natural from one who has so impulsively begun to speak that now he must talk on, because he knows not how to stop. They are the words of the very Peter whose actions we know so well. As he formerly walked upon the sea, before considering how boisterous were the waves, and would soon afterwards smite with the sword, and risk himself in the High Priest's palace, without seeing his way through either adventure, exactly so in this bewildering presence he ventures into a sentence without knowing how to close it.
Now this perfect accuracy of character, so dramatic and yet so unaffected, is evidence of the truth of this great miracle. To a frank student who knows human nature, it is a very admirable evidence. To one who knows how clumsily such effects are produced by all but the greatest masters of creative literature, it is almost decisive.
In speaking thus, he has lowered his Master to the level of the others, unconscious that Moses and Elijah were only attendants upon Jesus, who have come from heaven because He is upon earth, and who speak not of their achievements but of His sufferings. If Peter knew it, the hour had struck when their work, the law of Moses and the utterances of the prophets whom Elijah represented, should cease to be the chief impulse in religion, and without being destroyed, should be "fulfilled," and absorbed in a new system. He was there to whom Moses in the law, and the prophets bore witness, and in His presence they had no glory by reason of the glory that excelleth. Yet Peter would fain build equal tabernacles for all alike.
Now St. Luke tells us that he interposed just when they were departing, and apparently in the hope of staying them. But all the narratives convey a strong impression that his words hastened their disappearance, and decided the manner of it. For while he yet spake, as if all the vision were eclipsed on being thus misunderstood, a cloud swept over the three -- bright, yet overshadowing them -- and the voice of God proclaimed their Lord to be His beloved Son (not faithful only, like Moses, as a steward over the house), and bade them, instead of desiring to arrest the flight of rival teachers, hear Him.
Too often Christian souls err after the same fashion. We cling to authoritative teachers, familiar ordinances, and traditional views, good it may be, and even divinely given, as if they were not intended wholly to lead us up to Christ. And in many a spiritual eclipse, from many a cloud which the heart fears to enter, the great lesson resounds through the conscience of the believer, Hear Him!
Did the words remind Peter how he had lately begun to rebuke his Lord? Did the visible glory, the ministration of blessed spirits and the voice of God, teach him henceforth to hear and to submit? Alas, he could again contradict Jesus, and say Thou shalt never wash my feet. I never will deny Thee. And we, who wonder and blame him, as easily forget what we are taught.
Let it be observed that the miraculous and Divine Voice reveals nothing new to them. For the words, This is My beloved Son, and also their drift in raising Him above all rivalry, were involved in the recent confession of this very Peter that He was neither Elijah nor one of the prophets, but the Son of the Living God. So true is it that we may receive a truth into our creed and even apprehend it with such vital faith as makes us "blessed," long before it grasps and subdues our nature, and saturates the obscure regions where impulse and excitement are controlled. What we all need most is not clearer and sounder views, but the bringing of our thoughts into subjection to the mind of Jesus.
[7] Once besides in the New Testament this phrase was applied to death. That was by St. Peter speaking of his own, when the thought of the transfiguration was floating in his mind, and its voices lingered unconsciously in his memory (2Pe_1:15, cf. 2Pe_1:17). The phrase, though not unclassical, is not common.
William Robertson Nicoll, ed., The Expositor's Bible (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1887–1910) — public domain. 65 of 66 books (1 Corinthians is not separately keyed, as that volume carries no machine-parseable verse references); section-level commentary keyed to the opening verse. Introductory and overview sections not keyed to a specific passage are excluded.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv1–2 1. Till they have been seen the kingdom of…
1. Till they have been seen the kingdom of God come with power. Compare Matt. 16:28 and Luke 9:27. Matthew says, “Till they have seen the Son of man coming in his kingdom;” Luke, “Till they have seen the kingdom of God.” A comparison shows that the reference is to “the coming of the kingdom in power” on the day of Pentecost. Of the twelve, one at a time was dead; the others had not tasted of death.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On vv1–2 Mar_8:27. Cæsarea Philippi.—This picturesquely situated town, originally called Paneas,…
CRITICAL AND EXEGETICAL NOTES
Mar_8:27. Cæsarea Philippi.—This picturesquely situated town, originally called Paneas, after a cavern dedicated to Pan in its neighbourhood, was enlarged and fortified by Herod Philip, who also renamed it in honour of the emperor. Then, to distinguish it from the Cæsarea on the Mediterranean coast—the seat of the Roman government, where Cornelius lived and Paul suffered imprisonment—it was styled “Cæsarea Philippi.” The name was again changed to Neronias by Agrippa II., as a compliment to his imperial patron; but the original appellation still survives in the modern Banias.
Read full note →
Mar_8:31. After three days.—Only another form for “on the third day”—one complete day, with a portion of another day (no matter how small a portion) on either side. Cf. Gen_42:17-18, LXX.; also Mat_27:63-64.
Mar_8:32. Openly.—Explicitly, and not by dark hints as heretofore (Joh_2:19; Joh_3:14; Mar_2:20; Joh_6:51).
Mar_8:34. Whosoever will come.—If any one wishes to come.
Mar_8:35. Will save.—May wish to save.
Mar_8:36-37. Soul.—Life: same word as in Mar_8:35.
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.—Mar_8:27-38, and Chap. Mar_9:1
(PARALLELS: Mat_16:13-28; Luk_9:18-27.)
Christ’s catechism.—
I. Christ is such as to cause the world to think of Him.—
1. Because He professes to be the Saviour whom the world had long expected.
2. Because His appearance did not correspond with the world’s expectations.
3. Because the advent of a Saviour was the world’s great need.
II. Christ is interested in what the world thinks of Him.—
1. He recognised the world’s ability to form an idea of Him.
2. He had laboured to impart to the world a correct idea of Him.
3. He was conscious that the world had formed an idea of Him.
4. He seeks information of the result of His own teaching and the world’s learning from the most reliable source.
III. Christ is differently thought of by the world.—
1. He had imparted to the world an impression of superiority. “A great prophet.”
2. The world had failed to perceive the unique character of His greatness. Only a great man.
3. This failure had its source in the union of Godhead with manhood.
IV. Christ is wishful that right ideas of Himself should exist in the world.—
1. He had been qualifying His followers to teach them.
2. He opportunely tests their mastery of them.
3. He ascertains the successful implantation of them.—B. D. Johns.
Mar_8:34. The necessity of self-denial.—We ought to attach more than ordinary importance to this saving of our Lord, because it is evident that He Himself laid great stress on it. He had been conversing apart with His disciples, and particularly with Peter; and something that Peter said gave Him occasion to insist on this truth. He would not, however, address it privately to him or to the small band of His immediate followers, but He summoned the multitude to attend to Him, marking by this circumstance as strongly as possible the importance of what He was about to say: “Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.” He enforced the same truth again and again (Mat_10:38; Luk_14:27). And is not the declaration in itself calculated to arouse our attention? If we know that there is anything without which we cannot be true followers of Christ, it surely ought to be well considered by us, because the very life and salvation of our souls must depend on it. Let us then take earnest heed to what Christ here says to us: let us consider well what that is which He declares to be necessary in order to prove our claim to be His disciples; nor let us rest till we have this evidence that we belong to Him—till this seal, as it were, is visibly set upon us to mark us out as His disciples indeed. The text requires but few words by way of explanation. To “deny oneself” is to refuse indulgence to our desires, not to do what we would naturally, wish to do—to put a restraint upon ourselves, to withhold from any of our appetites that which would gratify them, and to act differently in any case to what nature would incline us.
I. Self-denial is necessary in order that we may prove our love and fidelity to Christ.—
1. A service which costs us nothing affords no very certain evidence of our attachment to any one. Now Christ would have us give proof of our loyalty and attachment to Him. He requires it of us as a positive duty to give up something, to make some sacrifice for Him, to oppose our inclinations in some way or other, in order that we may ascertain whether indeed love to His name is a strong and ruling principle within us.
2. There are many who are well enough disposed to the religion of Christ till it prescribes this duty. They appear willingly to hear the Scripture, to join in prayer, and to observe holy ordinances; and they will do many things which would seem to indicate an earnestness and zeal in the cause of Christ; but they draw back when called to the difficult exercise of self-denial. But what is the value of a service which cautiously avoids all toil and difficulty? Where is the proof of our being sincere in the love of an object if we will encounter no hardship to attain it? We see men ready to practise much self-denial and to think little of it in any matter in which their hearts are engaged. Look, for example, at the man whose ambition it is to prosper in business. What a life of self-denial is his! He labours even to weariness, rises early, late takes rest, eats the bread of carefulness, denies his nature the rest that it needs, and refuses many enjoyments which he would be glad to partake but that they would hinder him in the object that he has in view. Even the man of pleasure must in the pursuit of his object often use self-denial: he must put a restraint on himself at times, and refuse a less pleasure for the present, however strongly his wishes may incline to it, in order to obtain a greater one in prospect. Nay, even the customary civilities of society impose on us frequent self-denial. A man will often deny himself, will often refrain from doing what he would otherwise wish to do, in order to observe the rules of good breeding and courtesy. If then we are content in the pursuit of business or of pleasure to deny ourselves, if we are willing and able to practise it in order that we may observe the decent courtesies of life and be esteemed well mannered in society, what must be said of us if we refuse to practise it for Christ’s sake, if we can use self-denial on other occasions and for other purposes readily, and only feel it too irksome when called on to use it for the purpose of pleasing Him? What must be said of us but that the love of God is not in us?
II. Self-denial is necessary to the due discharge of our duties.—For many of these we cannot perform except at the expense of denying ourselves.
1. How can the rich relieve the poor as they ought, or how can the poor as they ought befriend each other, except they deny themselves for each other’s sake? We must in part sacrifice our own ease, we must give up our own way, we must abridge our own enjoyments, if we would do good to others according to the will of Christ. “Bear ye one another’s burdens.” This is His law; and it is evident that we cannot pretend to fulfil it except we deny ourselves. “Look not,” saith the apostle, “every man on his own things, but every man also on the things of others”; and then he adds, “let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus,” inasmuch as His Divine conduct furnishes the best example of self-denying charity. Not a single day passes which will not furnish many occasions for this: nay, not an hour’s intercourse with our fellow-men but will afford us opportunities of denying ourselves,—by giving up, for instance, our own wishes, and yielding to the wishes of another; by “taking the lowest room,” or choosing the least desirable lot; by securing the comfort or ease or honour of those about us at some sacrifice on our own part; by putting a restraint upon our feelings; by imposing silence on our tongue, refusing it the licence which it loves, not allowing it to utter words “that may do hurt,” not answering again, nor resenting wrong, nor resisting evil. In a thousand ways which only a watchful conscience can discover, and which no one may be privy to but God Himself, we may do what our Lord here commands us. Our daily course, under the most ordinary circumstances, may become a course of virtuous self-renunciation—a course of habitual obedience to the injunction in the text, “Whosoever will come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.”
2. There are at the present day great efforts made by the Church for the extension of the Lord’s kingdom among men, for propagating both at home and abroad the gospel of the grace of God. These efforts cannot be sustained except by the free-will offerings of Christians—they must be given up unless the members of the Church liberally give of their substance for their support. These multiplying demands on Christians cannot possibly be answered unless they contrive in some way to lessen their personal expenses, to spend less on self-indulgence, to save somewhat more by self-denial. Then, and not till then, will the resources of the Church be adequately replenished, and means be supplied her sufficient for carrying on her great designs of training her own children in the service and worship of God, and of “preaching among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ.”
III. Self-denial is necessary for the purification of our minds.—
1. As we were born in sin, and our nature is consequently corrupt, it must be watched over, restrained, and subdued. Our innate propensities are all on the side of evil, and if any of them gain the mastery over us we are thereby brought into bondage to sin. Now the only way to prevent this is to mortify these propensities, to deny them indulgence, to oppose them at their first rising, however earnest and importunate they may be, and by an act of self-denial to put a restraint upon them. The will grows unruly if it be not crossed; the soul is weakened by self-indulgence; faith languishes when the senses are unceasingly gratified; the affections will not rise to things above if we grant them unrestricted enjoyment of things on earth. Therefore it is that a Christian should be watchful for opportunities of exercising self-control, and not wait till his desires point to something absolutely unlawful. He should, for instance, make his ordinary meals occasions for doing so, learning to keep in check the lower appetites of his nature in the common matter of meat and drink. He should observe the same in reference to dress, refusing indulgence to himself in things which might awaken vanity and stimulate strongly the lust of the eye. In many ways, from which he will not receive the least taint of asceticism, nor do any rude violence to nature, or obscure to himself the blessed truth that God “giveth us all things richly to enjoy,” he may deny himself and bring his desires under control.
2. Whenever the exercise of self-denial is spoken of, there naturally arises in the mind a repugnance to it, on account of the difficulty of it and the pain which attends it. But let us not give way to this repugnance, seeing the necessity of self-denial is so absolute.
(1) The exercise is difficult doubtless—very difficult; but think not that we are left to encounter the difficulty alone, to meet it in the feebleness of our own nature. No, God will give us His Holy Spirit if we ask Him, and with His Divine co-operation we shall be able to do what otherwise would not only be difficult but impossible.
(2) With regard to the pain of it, it is granted that it must be painful, more or less so, always. The very word implies it. But is not pain suffered for Christ and in His service better than ease secured by deserting Him? Is not pain met with in the performance of duty more to be prized than the ease which is sought in the neglect of it? Is not pain endured in seeking the purification of our nature better a thousandfold than the indulgence which must complete its debasement? Besides, the pain is but momentary, the advantage that flows from it lasting. See Rom_8:13. The faithful soldier and servant of Christ who manfully engages in this warfare shall hereafter share his Lord’s triumph and enter into His rest (Rev_3:21).—G. Bellett.
Mar_8:27-30. Christ’s Gross, and ours.—This section has the announcement of the Cross as its centre, prepared for on the one hand by a question, and followed on the other by a warning that His followers must travel the same road.
I. The preparation for the announcement of the Cross (Mar_8:27-30).—
1. Why did Christ begin by asking about the popular judgment of His personality? Apparently in order to bring clearly home to the disciples that, as far as the masses were concerned, His work and theirs had failed, and had for net result total misconception. Who that had the faintest glimmer of what He was could suppose that the stern, fiery spirits of Elijah or John had come to life again in Him?
2. The second question, “But whom say ye that I am?” with its sharp transition, is meant to force home the conviction of the gulf between His disciples and the whole nation. Mark, too, that this is the all-important question for every man. Our own individual “thought” of Him determines our whole worth and fate.
3. How did these questions and their answers serve as introduction to the announcement of the Cross?
(1) They brought clearly before the disciples the hard fact of Christ’s rejection by the popular voice, and defined their position as sharply antagonistic. A rejected Messiah could not fail to be, sooner or later, a slain Messiah.
(2) Then clear, firm faith in His Messiahship was needed to enable them to stand the ordeal to which the announcement, and still more its fulfilment, would subject them.
(3) Again, the significance and worth of the Cross could only be understood when seen in the light of that great confession.
4. The charge of silence contrasts singularly with the former employment of the apostles as heralds of Jesus. The silence was partly punitive and partly prudential.
(1) It was punitive, inasmuch as the people had already had abundantly the proclamation of His gospel, and had cast it away.
(2) It was prudential, in order to avoid hastening on the inevitable collision; not because Christ desired escape, but because He would first fulfil His day.
II. The announcement of the Cross (Mar_8:31-33).—There had been many hints before this; for Christ saw the end from the beginning. His death was before Him, all through His days, as the great purpose for which He had come. How much more gracious and wonderful His quick sympathy, His patient self-forgetfulness, His unwearied toil, shew against that dark background!
1. Mark here the solemn necessity. Why “must” He suffer? The cords which bind this sacrifice to the horns of the altar were not spun by men’s hands. The great “must” which ruled His life was a cable of two strands—obedience to the Father, and love to men. He would save; therefore He “must” die. The same “must” stretches beyond death. “Christ that died “is no gospel until you go on to say, “Yea, rather, that is risen again.”
2. Peter’s rash “rebuke,” like most of his appearances in the Gospel, is strangely compounded of warm-hearted, impulsive love and presumptuous self-confidence. He found fault with Christ. For what? Probably for not trusting to His followers’ arms, or for letting Himself become a victim to the “must” which Peter thought of as depending only on the power of the ecclesiastics in Jerusalem. He blames Christ for not hoisting the flag of a revolt. This blind love was the nearest approach to sympathy which Christ received; and it was repugnant to Him, so as to draw the sharpest words from Him that He ever spoke to a loving heart. Not thus was He wont to repel ignorant love, nor to tell out faults in public; but the act witnessed to the recoil of His fixed spirit from the temptation which addressed His natural human shrinking from death, as well as to His desire that, once for all, every dream of resistance by force should be shattered. Note that it may be the work of “Satan” to appeal to the things “that be of men,” however innocent, if by so doing obedience to God’s will is hindered. Note, too, that Simon may be “Peter” at one moment and “Satan” at the next.
III. The announcement of the Cross as the law for the disciples too (Mar_8:34-38).—Christ’s followers must follow, but men can choose whether they will be His followers or not. So the “must” is changed into “let him,” and the “if any man will” is put in the forefront. The conditions are fixed, but the choice of accepting the position is free.
1. The law for every disciple is self-denial and taking up his cross. This does not merely mean accepting meekly God-sent or men-inflicted sorrows, but persistently carrying on the special form of self-denial which my special type of character requires. It will include these other meanings, but it goes deeper than they.
2. The first of the reasons for the law in Mar_8:35 is a paradox, and a truth with two sides. To wish to save is to lose life; to lose it for Christ’s sake is to save it. Flagrant vice is not needed to kill the real life. Clean, respectable selfishness does the work effectually. The deadly gas is invisible and has no smell. But while all selfishness is fatal, it is self-surrender and sacrifice, “for My sake and the gospel’s,” which is life-giving.
3. The “for” of Mar_8:36 seems to refer back to the law in Mar_8:34, and the verse enforces the command by an appeal to self-interest, which in the highest sense of the word dictates self-sacrifice. The men who live for self are dead, as Christ has been saying. A man gets rich, and in the process has dropped generous impulses, affections, interest in noble things, perhaps principle and religion. He has shrivelled and hardened into a mere fragment of himself; and so, when success comes, he cannot much enjoy it, and was happier, poor and sympathetic, and enthusiastic and generous, than he is now, rich and dwindled. He who loses himself in gaining the world does not win it, but is mastered by it.
4. A wholesome contempt for the world’s cackle is needed for following Christ. The geese on the common hiss at the passer-by who goes steadily through the flock. How grave and awful is that irony, if we may call it so, which casts the retribution in the mould of the sin! The Judge shall be “ashamed” of such unworthy disciples—shall blush to own such as His. May we venture to put stress on the fact that He does not say that He will reject them?
5. How marvellous the transition from the prediction of the Cross to this of the Throne! We do not know Jesus unless we know Him as the crucified Sacrifice for the world’s sins, and as the exalted Judge of the world’s deeds.
6. He adds a weighty word of enigmatical meaning, lest any should think that He was speaking only of some far-off judgment. The destruction of Jerusalem seems to be the event intended. It was a kind of rehearsal, or picture in little, of that coming and ultimate great day of the Lord, and was meant to be a “sign” that it should surely come.—A. Maclaren, D.D.
Mar_8:36-37. The loss of the soul.—
I. The character of some of those who may be said to pursue the present world at the expense of their souls.—
1. Consider, first, the case of those intensely occupied with the pursuit of the pleasures and indulgences of the world. It is no crime to be happy in this state of being (Php_4:4). The crime is either in seeking happiness from wrong sources, or in so eagerly drinking at the streams of earthly joy which the bounty of God has opened to us, as to forget or neglect the Fountain where alone the soul can be satisfied.
2. Consider, next, the case of those who are pursuing, with the like intenseness, the interests of this life. Here also a reasonable regard to our own worldly interest, and that of others connected with us, is not condemned in Scripture (Pro_22:29; 1Co_4:12; 1Ti_5:8). But if these worldly interests are pursued with feverish anxiety, from wrong motives or by wrong means; if they are the main objects for which we labour; if their pursuit is connected with disobedience to the will of God,—then the supposition of the text is realised: the world is gained, but the soul is lost.
3. In like manner Scripture does not demand the austere rejection of worldly honours. Rank and natural influence, if it be the pleasure of the Most High to bestow them, are to be received with gratitude, and consecrated to the glory of the Giver, and to the benefit, temporal and spiritual, of His creatures. If, however, mistaking the means for the end, we sit down satisfied with the possession of reputation or influence, without considering the objects to which they are to be dedicated; if worldly honours are the main objects of desire; if the pursuit of them be connected with envy, fretfulness, or ambition, with the commission of sin, or the neglect of duty; if, in struggling for the corruptible crown, the love of God, of the Redeemer, of heavenly things, and of one another is suffered to decline, and in wearing it the lowliness of the gospel spirit is sacrificed,—this, again, is to incur the condemnation of the text.
II. What is included in the loss of the soul.—
1. The nature and value of the soul of man.
(1) Its intrinsic excellence and dignity.
(2) The price paid, and that by Divine appointment, for the redemption of the soul.
(3) The description given of the soul in Scripture, as the grand object of contention between the powers of heaven and hell.
(4) The mighty apparatus of means and instruments which it has pleased God to put into action for the recovery of the soul.
(5) And finally its capacity for the pursuits and enjoyments of another state of existence. With what faculties must that creature be endowed who, day and night and without ceasing, sings the praises of the Lord, who sees God as He is and knows Him as he himself is known!
2. What is more distinctly implied in the term “lost.”
(1) To “lose” the soul is not, as some, without the smallest warrant either from reason or Scripture, have ventured to affirm, to be annihilated.
(2) The loss of the soul is represented in Scripture as a penalty inflicted by the hand of God Himself.
(3) The loss of the soul is represented in Scripture as involving a species of suffering altogether without alleviation. We have perhaps witnessed the misery which the unrestrained dominion even of a single passion is able to inflict upon the sinner: conceive, then, all the faculties employed, and all the bad passions let loose, for the torment of the sufferer. Imagine, for instance, the discernment of truth employed only to assure the lost creature of the awful fact of his own eternal ruin. Conceive the powers of calculation, perhaps infinitely enlarged, and altogether engaged in familiarising the mind with ages of interminable woe. Conceive memory converted into a mere storehouse for the materials of anguish, recalling every neglected opportunity, every wasted warning, every lesson of truth forgotten, and every invitation of love refused. Imagine the conscience, which perhaps has slumbered through the whole period of our human existence, awaking from its temporary slumber, and scaring the mind with images of deeper woe and more insufferable torment.
III. The folly of thus sacrificing the soul to gain the world. On this subject it is not necessary to enlarge, because every line in the preceding argument leads decisively to this conclusion. One observation, however, I may make. It has, for the sake of argument, been taken for granted that it is possible to gain the world by the sacrifice of the soul. But how infinitely far is such a supposition from the fact! How few attain even a small part of the worldly objects at which they aim! How rarely are the hopes of the ambitious, or the covetous, or the sensual in the smallest degree realised! How difficult is it to obtain the prizes of life! how impossible to keep them! But to return to the point more immediately insisted upon in the text: suppose every object accomplished, every interest secured, and honour won, and pleasure enjoyed, what can they “profit” the man rolling on the gulf we have been contemplating, and shut out for ever from hope, from heaven, and from God?—J. W. Cunningham.
OUTLINES AND COMMENTS ON THE VERSES
Mar_8:28. The world’s estimate of Christ.—
1. Even an unbelieving world never gives a small name to Christ; for the names here suggested are those of the greatest of men.
2. The peculiarity of unbelief, that it can believe in old prophets brought back more easily than in new prophets raised up. Be a believer in a living God, who not only has given in the past, but in the present is giving heroes, sages, saints, and prophets. Happy those who see God at work around them!
3. A certain grudging spirit marks their estimates, reluctant to ascribe more dignity to Jesus than they can help. Beware of that spirit.—R. Glover.
Mar_8:29. Christ’s questions.—Christ asks, “Whom say ye that I am?” in no doubtful and apologetic tone. He demands and expects an answer. It is His right. It is obedience to the plainest duty. Neglect on our part is an insult to our Lord, whose we are and whom we are bound to serve. It is treason to a lost world, which needs to be helped to an acceptance of its Redeemer, and which is hindered by any reluctance to confess Him on the part of His disciples. If Christians hide the faith which is in them, or if they veil it by silence or the neglect of appropriate action, they are doing a grievous wrong as well as immeasurable mischief.
Loyalty to Christ.—The power and reach of genuine loyalty to Christ cannot be over-estimated. It is so spontaneous that it is unquestioned. When the sun is riding in unclouded splendour in mid-heaven, there is no occasion for asking from what fountain of light the glory of the noontide is pouring. And when Jesus Christ is so heartily owned and accepted and loved by a man that all which he is or does is in a measure transfigured by his affection for his adorable Lord, there is no dispute as to who and what Christ is to that man. Nothing so blesses the world, nothing so helps on the advance of the kingdom of God, as the testimony which consecrated lives bear to the truth and worth of the faith of the gospel.
Peter’s reply.—
1. The reply of Peter is more marvellous in the lips of a Jew, whose great creed was the Unity of God, than in the lips of any other.
2. In all ages, in some form or other, men have expressed their faith in the Divinity of Christ.
3. The more refined the soul, the more adoring is its estimate of Christ.
4. They who truly honour God will very readily believe that He has love enough to become incarnate and save men.
Mar_8:30. “Tell no man of Him.”—This is partly a temporary precept, postponing the disciples’ testimony until after Calvary, on the ground that already the curiosity of the nation was over-roused, and interfered with the Saviour’s teaching; and is partly a precept of perpetual guidance. Tell people what Christ has done, and only assist them to find out for themselves who He is. A ready-made definition of the Saviour, saving people the trouble of thinking, is not a real service to any soul.—R. Glover.
Mar_8:32-33. Spiritual exaltation.—Moments of spiritual exaltation are often followed by moments of spiritual exhaustion, and a good man is never more perilously open to temptation than after a long and high strain of devotion. So Peter falls from the height of his good confession to the depth of Christ’s displeasure, and from being inspired by the Spirit of all truth and goodness to being the mouthpiece of the spirit of all evil and error.—S. Cox, D.D.
Learn—
1. In the best of men there is weakness and liability to err.
2. Through mistaken kindness we may become the tempters of our brethren.
3. We must never lower our standard of duty because friends seek to spare us.
Mar_8:34-38. The fundamentals of the Christian fellowship.—
1. Its laws.
(1) The true denier of himself is the true confessor.
(2) The true cross-bearer is the true knight of the Cross.
(3) The true follower after Christ in obedience is the true conqueror.
2. Its grounds.
(1) He who will save his life in self-seeking shall lose it; he who loses it in devotion to Christ shall gain it.
(2) He who lays down his soul to win the world loses with his soul the world also; he who has gained his soul has with his soul gained the world also.
(3) To seek honour in the world while ashamed of Christ leads to infamy before the throne of Christ; but shame in the world leads to honour with Him.
(4) Readiness to die with Christ leads through death to eternal glory.—J. P. Lange, D.D.
Mar_8:34. Words addressed to disciples.—We must come to Christ in order to come after Him. To wish to go to heaven when we die is not the same thing as to wish to follow Christ while we live. Following Christ means walking in the path that He trod.
I. To follow Christ we must take up the cross.—
1. What is the cross? Trial, suffering, difficulty, etc. Divinely appointed—not self-imposed. The reproach of Christ (Joh_15:20; Php_1:29; 1Pe_4:16).
2. What is it to “take it up”? Voluntary acceptance (Joh_4:34; Joh_18:11; Mat_11:29). Not to be dragged by us—nor forced upon us.
II. To take up the cross we must deny self.—
1. What is “self”? It is the personality taking the throne, claiming, possessing, and managing the whole being. This is a condition of “selfness.” There is unrighteous self and self-righteous self (Joh_5:30; Joh_8:28; Php_2:7).
2. What is it to “deny” self? Notice the difference between denying to yourself certain things and denying self (Luk_22:57).
III. To deny self we must enthrone Christ.—
1. Christ and self cannot reign together (Gal_2:20; Rom_6:11).
2. Only Christ can dethrone self (1Pe_3:15; 2Co_6:16; 2Co_13:5).—E. H. Hopkins.
Self-denial.—
1. Abnegation is not itself the good, but the most universal condition for the human attainment of the good.
2. Christ promises not happiness but life: yet sometimes life through death: the right hand may have to be cut off or the right eye plucked out.
3. We are slow to believe that the cross of anguish can be a tree of life.—Prof. F. J. A. Hort.
The life of religion.—
1. The exercise of self-denial infers the possession and display of all the milder virtues. Where this exists, there must be humility, diffidence, self-command, respect for authority, meekness, gentleness, goodness, temperance, charity.
2. The exercise of mortification infers the presence and exercise of all the stronger virtues. Where this is, there must be truth, integrity, justice, fortitude, contempt of pain, fearlessness of death.
3. The imitation of Christ requires the exercise of all those amiable graces which constitute the life and spirit of religion in the soul. Where that is, there must be faith, hope, love, piety, purity, peace, heavenly-mindedness, devotion. In short, these duties comprehend all the duties of morality and religion; and the exercise of them is only the discharge of some religious or moral duty—of something that is wise, dignified, good, and which could not be exhibited in the same spirit without their presence and power.—T. S. Jones, D.D.
Self-sacrifice.—That which especially distinguishes a high order of man from a low order of man, that which constitutes human goodness, human greatness, human nobleness, is surely not the degree of enlightenment with which men pursue their own advantage; but it is self-forgetfulness, self-sacrifice, the disregard of personal pleasure, personal indulgence, personal advantage remote or present, because some other line of conduct is more right.
Note the order of the three things.—Deny self—take up cross—follow Me. Perplexity and spiritual difficulties often arise from a wrong order of right things. Thus we may read the words as if our Lord had said, “Let him take up his cross and deny himself,” etc. Taking up the cross may be understood as meaning much the same thing as denying self, which is not correct, or we may be putting following Christ first. But this is to miss the chief point in this lesson. “Let him deny himself”—that is the main and first direction that must be understood and obeyed. We shall never take up the cross—consent to it, and do it willingly—until we have reached the point of denying self. The mind, of which self is the centre, will never take up the cross; it may sullenly endure to have it laid upon it, it may put up with it as that which is inevitable, but it will never take it up as an act of willing submission. But the mind of Christ is the mind that cheerfully yields to all that the Father appoints.—E. H. Hopkins.
A cross is an instrument on which something is to be put to death. Taking it up is not wearing an ornament, nor even just carrying a burden, but putting something to death. What? Sin. Not some incarnate sin that we can catch and bind as they took Jesus, not some other personality, but the sin that is in us—the love of self, the love of the world, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life. Sin is a desperate enemy. And to be rid of it means thorough work, not coaxing it, not hiding it, not forgetting it, but putting it to death.—C. M. Southgate.
Consider your cross.—You may try, if you like, to go through life and not see a “cross”; or, if you like, you may consider it; you may avoid it, or you may meet it; you may resist, or you may acquiesce in it; you may murmur under it, or you may be still; you may drag it, or you may carry it; you may be in a hurry to lay it down, or you may wish to wait God’s time:—but blessed is that man who considers his cross, and does not fly from it; who bears it silently, cheerfully, joyfully, and hastens not to be rid of it, but patiently tarries the Lord’s leisure. To that man that “cross” is his soul’s cure; it is the Spirit’s school; it is the badge of his discipleship, the token of his Heavenly Father’s love, the road to glory, the opportunity for all the promises, the earnest of an eternal crown.—J. Vaughan.
The cross the way to life.—
Wouldst thou inherit life with Christ on high?
Then count the cost, and know
That here on earth below
Thou needs must suffer with thy Lord, and die.
We reach that gain, to which all else is loss,
But through the Cross!
Not e’en the sharpest sorrows we can feel,
Nor keenest pangs, we dare
With that great bliss compare,
When God His glory shall in us reveal,
That shall endure when our brief woes are o’er,
For evermore.—Dach.
“Follow Me.”—This implies not merely to believe His doctrine, obey His commandments, and trust in Him for salvation, but also to imitate Him in His spirit and conduct—in the holiness, activity, and usefulness of His life—in that love to God and man, that zeal for the Divine glory, that humility, patience, meekness, perseverance, and resignation with which He did and suffered His Heavenly Father’s will,—in consequence of which He was exposed to hunger, thirst, poverty, and privations, to the contradiction of sinners, scorn of men, stripes, imprisonment, to all the horrors of Gethsemane and torments of Golgotha.—T. S. Jones, D.D.
Mar_8:35. The selfish, sinful life and the true, spiritual life hang at opposite ends of the scale-beam.—The dip of the one means the ascent of the other. Self-denial is but choosing the better; denying the lower is accepting the higher. The soul cannot live in both at once; indeed, can truly live in the higher alone. We need only to keep this compensation in mind to see the excelling charm of self-denial. It is not the bare going without something pleasant, but giving up one attraction for a greater.—C. M. Southgate.
Mar_8:36. The worth of the soul.—We cannot overrate our nature, as we cannot underrate our merit; we cannot think too highly of ourselves as immortals, or too humbly of ourselves as transgressors. There is quite as much danger in our undervaluing our immortality, as there is in our exaggerating our merit. In very deed we are more prone to the one than we are to the other; for if self-righteousness slays its thousands, self-neglect slays its tens of thousands.
1. The soul! that thinking, conscious, deathless essence, which thrills and throbs in every tenement of clay before me and around me,—that soul! invisible, yet perceptible; wrapped up in the mortal, yet itself immortal; passing away, yet never to end:—that soul! we argue that its worth is immense, because its origin was most exalted.
2. We argue the worth of the soul from the vast capacities and powers with which it is endowed. What a wonderful thing is the mind of man! How wondrous is his power of love! how deep the bitterness of his hate! how dark his desperation of revenge! how insatiable and yearning his desires! how high the inspirations of his soul! how all the drops he gathers from the cisterns of created good can never slake or satisfy the yearnings of his immortal mind! how he still craves and longs after something higher and more pure than earth can furnish! And, then, what a capability it has of enjoyment! what a capability of endurance!
3. I argue the value of the soul still more emphatically from its dread immortality. There is the mysterious attribute, compared with which all things temporal are but shadows and day-dreams.
4. I argue the worth of the soul still more emphatically from the fact that it was redeemed at an untold price: it was ransomed with the blood of God.
5. But if the worth of the soul be so immense, the loss of the soul must be tremendous. We therefore argue the fearfulness of that loss, because it involves the sacrifice and the shipwreck of all for which man was first created, and which Christ has redeemed to Him by His atoning blood—all that God can bestow or man receive. Neither is this all: there is not only privation of all that is good and glorious—there is also the endurance of God’s everlasting anger, whose frown is death and whose smile is life; there is the perpetual gnawing despair of one that has made shipwreck of his all; there is the smouldering remorse, the worm that never dieth.—H. Stowell.
World and soul.—
1. It is impossible to gain the whole world, even at the sacrifice of our soul. None but Christ was ever tempted with such a huge bait.
2. The soul may be lost for the sake of securing a very infinitesimal portion of the world: Esau, Ahab, Jud_1:3. In the ordinary course of things such a part of the world as is sufficient for our happiness may be easily gained without exposing the soul to loss (Pro_8:21; Pro_3:16; Pro_10:4; Pro_22:29); but even were this not so, nothing could compensate for the loss of the soul.
4. By endeavouring to gain the whole world or any part of it at the expense of the soul, we do not only disclaim the greatest good or happiness, but incur and invite the greatest evil and misery, which is not the losing the soul absolutely, however grievous and shocking to nature, but the keeping it, together with the gains and wages of sin, so as to wish it were lost.
5. Whereas by endeavouring to gain the whole world, though with the loss of our souls, it is impossible for us to gain the whole, and we are not so certain to gain any competent part of it; on the other hand, by endeavouring to save our souls, though with the loss of the world, we may not only be sure to save them, but to save them with advantage, or to purchase for ourselves a greater salvation.—B. Kennet, D.D.
The world as a law of life.—You may be as ignorant and as rude in your life as a Hottentot, and as poor as Lazarus, and yet have gained the world and lost your life. For this is not merely a question of the things which you acquire by your exchange, it is a question of the law under which you put yourself, of the moral quality of the end which you seek.—M. R. Vincent, D.D.
The soul that may be lost.—A German commentator who is usually very diffuse tersely and truly observes with respect to this passage, “He who will understand it does understand it.” There is no real room for doubt as to the meaning of our Lord’s words. The soul which may be lost is the very inmost seat of being; that which thinks in each one of us, but is not thought; that which feels, but is not feeling; that which remembers and is conscious, but is neither consciousness nor memory; that depth, that abyss of life which we so rarely explore, yet which is within each one of us, which we carry everywhere with us,—the one mystery of which perhaps we know less than any other, and yet our very inmost self.—Canon Liddon.
“If.”—What a world of meaning there is in that little word “if”! It suggests the fact that few, perhaps not one in ten thousand, do gain that portion of the world on which they have set their heart. Many run in the race, but only one gains the prize; and not seldom he who bids fair to win fails through something which we call chance or accident.—J. W. King.
Mar_8:37. A business question.—The apostles had been men of business; here was a business question indeed. They were decidedly practical, and they were met on their own ground. Their answer is not recorded. They doubtless thought long and often on it. Their final decision we know. They concluded their soul was valuable enough to justify them in giving up their affairs to save it; in giving up their time, ease, and indulgence to save it; in surrendering their repute, home, and country to save it; and, finally, in laying down their life to save it.—T. F. Crosse, D.C.L.
Mar_8:38. Confessing or denying Christ.—
1. Confessing or denying Christ is certainly no mere affair of words. Yet words, though weak, are not worthless. Whatever worthy witness words can bear, they will not fail to utter in any loving and thoroughgoing confession of our loving Lord.
2. Confessing Christ and being confessed by Christ are not to be separated in our thought, like work-day and pay-day, as if the confessing were all here and the being confessed all there. What comes out there is simply the flash of an awakened consciousness of a judgment of Christ which has been going on here every day under the eyes of the invisible witnesses of many a negligent life.
3. Confessing or denying Christ here is not a question solely as to the totality or average of character, but quite as much a question as to the particulars of character. Point by point the world compares the professed copy with its model, and recognises agreements or contradictions in detail. No otherwise can it be in presence of the angels of God.—J.M. Whiton.
Conduct and character.—How does a son of a wise and virtuous father confess or deny him most expressively? Certainly not by the word which declares the eternal relationship, not by saying “Father,” though he ought to say it. Rather by conduct and character; either by the wise and virtuous following of parental example, which bespeaks him as his father’s own son, heir of his spirit as of his name, or else by the course of folly and vice, which denies all moral affinity with him. So on the father’s part; let father and son be in the same society, how does the wise and virtuous father most effectively own or disown the son before intelligent observers? Certainly not by saying, or omitting to say, “My son”; rather by being in the same circle with him as an object of comparison before observant witnesses, by the light which the father’s character reflects upon the son, to the son’s honour or dishonour as the imitator or neglecter of a noble model.—Ibid.
On being ashamed of Jesus.—Those who would willingly follow Jesus where the road is smooth and easy, but leave Him where it is rugged and hard; who inwardly approve of His doctrine, but from the ridicule of the profane are ashamed to avow it; who punctually attend the routine of worship, but dispense with the observance of duties to which they are not compelled by human laws; who can occasionally associate with the drunkard and hear the name of God profaned without concern; who have no objection to do wrong when the multitude give their sanction; who, when unnoticed or secure of escaping censure, can lift the rod of oppression or receive the wages of iniquity; who can cherish pride, vanity, avarice, and ambition, and yet by nice dissimulation affect the opposite virtues; who can be tender and partial to themselves, but austere and cruel to others; who perform no duty on which human applause is not bestowed, and are deterred from no vice which fashion or common practice countenances;—men of this character, and all who resemble them—all false Christians, in short, who in public and private life have not the fear and love of God before their eyes, whatever may be their reception from the world—of them shall Jesus Christ be ashamed when in transcendent glory He shall come to judge the world. It is obvious, then, from this climax of vice and folly, that nothing under a sincere, uniform, and universal obedience to the moral law which Jesus came to fulfil will be accepted from His followers; and that no pretences, excuses, and palliations will avail, if this essential and absolutely necessary condition be not complied with.—A. Stirling, LL. D.
Adulterous generation—not because the particular sin of adultery was so frequent in that age, but because by every kind of sin a man under the contract of religion runs into that character wherewith Solomon describes the adulteress, who “forsaketh the guide of her youth, and forgetteth the covenant of her God” (Jas_4:4).—Dean Young.
ILLUSTRATIONS TO CHAPTER 8
Mar_8:27. A striking coincidence.—If we are right in identifying the little bay—Dalmanutha—with the neighbourhood of Tarichæa, yet another link of strange coincidence connects the prophetic warning spoken there with its fulfilment. From Dalmanutha our Lord passed across the lake to Cæsarea Philippi. From Cæsarea Philippi did Vespasian pass through Tiberias to Tarichæa, when the town and people were destroyed, and the blood of the fugitives reddened the lake, and their bodies choked its waters. Even amidst the horrors of the last Jewish war few spectacles could have been so sickening as that of the wild stand at Tarichæa, ending with the butchery of 6,500 on land and sea, and lastly the vile treachery by which they to whom mercy had been promised were lured into the circus at Tiberias, when the weak and old, to the number of about 1, 200, were slaughtered, and the rest—upwards of 30,400—sold into slavery. Well might He who foresaw and foretold that terrible end, standing on that spot, deeply sigh in spirit as He spake to them who asked “a sign,” and yet saw not what even ordinary discernment might have perceived of the red and lowering sky overhead.—A. Edersheim, D. D.
Mar_8:29. Comprehensive news of Christ.—Many have at one time or other felt the charm of a Christ who is purely human, but not Divine. Our literature abounds at present with such pictures, and some of them are very fascinating. The Peasant of Nazareth, growing up beneath His mother’s roof and in the carpenter’s workshop; the enthusiastic Lover of the poor and oppressed, who went about continually doing good; the pure and fearless Reformer, who blasted with the lightning of His eloquence the Pharisee and the priest; the Martyr, who died for the truth, and lies buried beneath the Syrian blue,—this picture is being sketched by clever littérateurs; it is impossible not to enjoy it; and you ask, Why does this win me more than the Christ I hear of in church? The latter perplexes me with mystery, but this is simple, human, lovable. It is not, I think, difficult to explain this. If you know music, and have ever endeavoured to follow and grasp a long and classical composition of a great master, say, an oratorio of Handel or Haydn, I am sure you can remember in it a few airs and choruses which, if separated from the whole and executed by themselves, would produce far more immediate pleasure than the whole elaborate composition. Indeed, there are audiences which could not tolerate the oratorio as a whole, but would be delighted with its selected beauties. Yet, though these lovely morsels are enchanting, they are not Handel. Or, do you know literature? If you know your Browning, you must be aware how charming it is, after struggling through his more difficult pages, to light on a lyric here and there which is perfectly easy reading. Selections of these find their way even into school books, and many readers can enjoy selections from this great author who recoil from his longer and more difficult works. But though these elegant extracts are delightful, they are not Browning. In the same way these pictures of a merely human Christ are true as far as they go; they are the simpler traits selected from that great character and life; they are easy to comprehend, and they touch the feelings; but they are not Christ. At first sight that way of thinking of Christ as a great and good man appears to make everything simple; but it really involves you in confusion and contradiction. For what is it you hold Him to be? He is, you say, the ideal man—the model of modesty, wisdom, and truth. If He was merely a link in the chain of humanity, then, as a weak and fallible man, He ought to have confessed His own sins, and He was a blasphemer when He spoke of giving His life a ransom for many. When He said, “All power is given unto Me in heaven and on earth,” and promised to be with His people always, even to the end of the world, He was not a wise man, but the victim of a madman’s delusions. When He, a finite creature, spoke of Himself as seated on God’s throne and judging the assembled world, He was no model of goodness and modesty, but a man rendered insane with pride, who was presuming to pluck the sceptre from the bands of the Eternal. If He who said, “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest,’ had not the peace and joy of salvation to give to those who come to hide their guilty heads in His bosom, then He was cruelly deceiving us all.—Jas. Stalker, D. D.
A large Christ experienced.—Payson, when he lay on his bed dying, said: “All my life Christ has seemed to me as a star afar off; but little by little He has been advancing and growing larger and larger, till now His beams seem to fill the whole hemisphere, and I am floating in the glory of God, wondering with unutterable wonder how such a mote as I should be glorified in His light.” But he came to that after a long life.
Mar_8:33. We all have our Satans—each one of us a different Satan. Satan comes to one man in the form of idleness, and makes him waste day after day, year after year, until he has wasted his whole life doing nothing. Satan comes to another man as work, and makes him destroy himself in the opposite way by wearing out prematurely his brain and his body. He comes to another as Christian zeal, and the man becomes a bigot, full of fire for the Lord; but the Lord whom he serves is a God of wrath, a God who cares for trifles, a God who prefers sacrifice to mercy. He comes to another as charity, but it is a charity which tolerates evil, and lets it alone, which has no edge to it, no courage—an indolent charity which is not love at all, but only easy good-nature. So he disguises himself as an angel of light, calling himself Patriotism when he wishes to make nations hate each other; calling himself Christianity when he wishes to make men persecute each other; calling himself Honesty when he wishes to encourage a man in his rude and overbearing ways; and so on, changing himself into every virtue and every grace.—J. F. Clarke.
Mar_8:34. To take up one’s cross was a proverbial expression, both with the Jews and Romans, for any extraordinary sufferings, and it is probable they had it from the Persians, who made use of that form of punishment.—T. J. Montefiore.
The symbol of the cross.—It is strange, yet well authenticated, and has given rise to many speculations, that the symbol of the cross was already known to the Indians before the arrival of Cortez. Among the Egyptians a cross was the emblem of a future life. In O’Brien’s Round Towers of Ireland there are some curious remarks on the cross. The use of it in some way by the Druids is noticed.
To take, not make, our cross.—We are bid to take, not to make, our cross. God in His providence will provide one for us. And we are bid to take it up; we hear nothing of laying it down. Our troubles and our lives live and die together.—W. Gurnall.
The spirit of the Christian soldier.—When Garibaldi entered on one of his campaigns, he told his troops what he wanted of them. They replied, “Well, General, and what are you going to give us for all this?” He replied, “I don’t know what also you will get, but you will get hunger, cold, wounds, and perhaps death.” They stood awhile considering, and then, throwing up their arms, exclaimed, “We are the men!” This is the spirit Christ looks for in His soldiers.
The spell of example.—There is, we know, a wonderful spell in the cry, “Come after Me,” “Follow Me.” All history, profane as well as sacred, has shewn this. The great Roman general realised its force when he called to his soldiers, who shrank from the hardships of the Libyan desert, and promised to go before them, and to command them nothing which he would not first do himself. Even so Christ designed to help His followers by the assurance that He should first suffer that which they would be called to bear.
Predominance of the cross.—Describing the artistic glories of the Church of St. Mark at Venice, Mr. Ruskin says: “Here are all the successions of crowded imagery, shewing the passions and the pleasures of human life symbolised together, and the mystery of its redemption: for the maze of interwoven lines and changeful pictures lead always at last to the cross, lifted and carved in every place and upon every stone; sometimes with the serpent of eternity wrapped round it, sometimes with doves beneath its arms, and sweet herbage growing forth from its feet; but conspicuous most of all on the great rood that crosses the church before the altar, raised in bright blazonry against the shadow of the apse. It is the cross that is first seen and always burning in the centre of the temple; and every dome and hollow of its roof has the figure of Christ in the utmost height of it, raised in power, or returning in judgment.”
Christ’s cross is the sweetest burden that ever I bore; it is such a burden as wings are to a bird, or sails to a ship, to carry me forward to my harbour.—S. Rutherford.
The figure of the cross. My will is represented well by a straight line—thus, running from birth to death in unbroken current through the flesh and the world in all manner of self-indulgence unto the hidden abyss. God’s will is represented by a perpendicular | thus, falling from heaven like a bolt of thunder. The two wills meet, and form the figure of the + thus. It cuts me, severs me, hinders me, clogs me, compels me; but Thy will, O God, saves me. That cross means the life and death of the Son of God. “For me,” therefore, “to live is Christ, and to die is gain.”
Christ the Leader.—When Hedley Vicars fell at the head of his regiment during a night attack of the Russians, his voice was heard ringing out on the night air over the din of the conflict with the cry, “This way, Ninety-seventh.” A hundred “goes” would be weak in comparison with the “come” involved in that battle-cry. In all the cross-bearing of life the voice of the Captain of our salvation is still heard in the van, saying, “This way, My disciple.”
Following Christ in self-denial.—A little girl was instructed by her parents in what Christ had taught, and how He lived, and that through Him we must enter into eternal life. When she heard these things, she became dissatisfied with her native land, and pressed her parents to be taken to that land where men lived as Christ had taught them, and as He lived. Her parents replied that she was then in a Christian land, and that those around her were Christians, and were living so. She shook her head and said, “That I cannot believe, for those I see around me neither live as Christ taught nor as Christ lived; for Christ was voluntarily poor, we love gold and silver; He was humble and lowly, but we affect dominion and greatness; He was always in affliction, we hunt for carnal pleasures.” What cutting truths from infant lips!
Mar_8:35. Gain by loss.—The most important use of a seed is that which results in the reproduction of its species; but in order that it may serve this high purpose, it must lose itself as a seed, must suffer the disintegration of its structure, and give up its elements for the production of new forms of life. The seed must, as it were, lose all thought of itself, must give up its own life, its own separate existence, and allow itself to be converted into new and productive forms of vegetation. A grain of corn stored away in the granary is of small account. To be of any use in the world it must be either ground to powder and made into bread for the eater, or be planted in the ground and transmuted by the joint action of the wonderful forces locked up within itself and those lodged in the soil around it, into a green and growing stalk which shall in due time bear fruit to nourish human life and bless the world. It is only one illustration of a great law prevalent in all the universe of God. Helpfulness to others is attained through sacrifice of self.
The reward of self-sacrifice.—A group of firemen sat in their engine house to hold their anniversary. They have invited in the “veterans.” They eat—they remember. Which is the keenest delight, the memory of the terrible eight-and-forty hours in which you played the hero, carrying the nozzle through the doorway from which a hundred citizens had shrunk dismayed, or the present banquet? The pleasure of heroic deeds, or—a piece of pie? Yet here is all the difference between noble and ignoble men. When we come to think of it, self-sacrifice has its own high reward. But observe how slow we are to win it with the denial of an appetite. The cross of Christ is no esoteric secret. It inheres in the constitution of things, even the commonest things.—E. J. Haynes.
Lost.—I remember being one winter’s night in a little town on the coast of Wales. We were sitting by the fire, cheerful, when we heard a sudden noise. We looked out into the night. The wind was very high, and suddenly we heard the scream of voices, then the boom of guns over the water; then the clatter of feet along the street, the lifeboat, and the lifebuoy. Human life in danger. We thought we descried a dark mass heaving over the black billows, but the breakers carried her away. That night she struck on the rocks. I walked down in the morning to look at her lying on the beach. I could not help saying, “How human this is! how lifelike!” There she lay, the pride and hope of her owners—stripped; masts, sails, shrouds, broken, ragged, torn—gone. And yet much had depended on her. She had been launched with many hopes and expectations. All gone, a melancholy wreck. The winds howled through as they lifted her ragged shrouds. She could not, as once she might have done, repel them, and make them her ministers. She was a lost ship. Melancholy type of a lost soul.—E. Paxton Hood.
Mar_8:36. Gained, but not possessed.—A people may gain the whole world, and lose all those qualities of the head and heart which entitle them to possess it. May we not say of ancient Rome that she gained the whole world and lost her soul? Just as the tale of her conquests was almost complete, yet ere the Roman eagles were firmly planted on the Euphrates and on the Danube the soul of the old republic had departed. The temperance, courage, justice, patriotism, of the earlier Romans had died out; and while, in the intoxication of her victories, Rome grasped with one hand the sceptre of the world, she surrendered the liberties and lives of her citizens to the lusts and tyranny of the Cæsars with the other. A people may have been civilised, in the material sense of the word, for centuries, while it remains at heart and for ever barbarian. In ages when our ancestors were mere savages Chinese society was as highly organised, Chinese life as highly embellished, as at the present day. Yet no primitive race was ever capable of the extraordinary cruelties which are now of daily occurrence in China; and the dignity and the rights of man are nowhere treated with such lofty scorn as in those tribunals which are presided over by the passionless scepticism of a Chinese mandarin. Without a ray of moral life, without a soul, that vast and ancient empire exists as if that it may exhibit to Christendom the worthlessness and feebleness of mere material progress. Yet Pagan empires are no measure of the degradation of which Christian peoples are capable when they sacrifice truth and goodness in an attempt to gain the world. When during the first French Revolution divine honours were paid to one of the daughters of shame, throned on the high altar of the cathedral church of Paris, while the streets of that brilliant capital were deluged with the best blood of its citizens, men read God’s doom upon a noble people, bent fiercely for the moment upon spiritual suicide and upon material aggrandisement. And when we hear daily of the gigantic miseries inflicted and endured by a nation which but yesterday was a British colony, we may reflect that there are dangers against which no institutions or races can be guaranteed, and that we ourselves have our weaknesses and our temptations. My countrymen, I do not dispute your pre-eminence; you are unquestionably the princes of commerce, you reign without a rival over the realm of matter: but have you lost, or are you losing, that which is more precious than any acquisitions of your industry or of your genius—are you becoming the slaves of matter instead of its masters? Beneath the surface of many an advanced civilisation the human brute crouches, he scarcely slumbers, with the old untamed ferocity of his savage nature; and not merely the accumulations of your capital, but the creations of your science, your new projectiles, your rifled cannon, and your ironclad steam vessels, may but enable the nation which has gained the world to prove one day how much she has really lost in gaining it.—Canon Liddon.
The world unsatisfying.—Alexander the Great overran the whole earth, and subdued every nation; and at the conclusion of universal victory he sat down and wept like a child because he had not another world to conquer. We read also of a Roman emperor who had run the round of all the pleasures in the world offering a rich reward to any one who should discover a new pleasure. Cyrus the conqueror thought that for a little time he was making a fine thing out of this world; yet before he came to his grave he wrote out this pitiful epitaph for his monument: “I am Cyrus. I occupied the Persian Empire. I was King over Asia. Begrudge me not this monument.” But the world in after-years ploughed up his sepulchre. Pope Adrian VI. had this inscription on his monument: “Here lies Adrian VI., who was never so unhappy in any period of his life as at that in which he was a prince.” “I, sinful wretch, by the grace of God, King of England and of France, and Lord of Ireland, bequeath to Almighty God my sinful soul and the life I have misspent, whereof I put myself wholly at His grace and mercy”—so wrote Henry IV. in his last will, when the frightful reality of leprosy had disenchanted the rapturous dream of usurpation. Queen Elizabeth, dying, cried: “Millions of money for an inch of time!” Was the gay queen happy? The history of kings and queens proves that though their crowns may be “set with diamonds or Indian stones,” the kings and queens themselves but seldom enjoy the crown of content which is worn upon the heart. The world clapped its hands and stamped its feet in honour of Charles Lamb. Was he happy? He says: “I walk up and down, thinking I am happy, but feeling I am not.” Samuel Johnson, happy? “No. I am afraid I shall some day get crazy.” Buchanan, the world-renowned writer, exiled from his own country, appealing to Henry VIII. for protection, happy? “No. Over mountains covered with snow, and through valleys flooded with rain, I come a fugitive.” “Indeed, my lord,” wrote famous Edmund Burke, “I doubt whether, in these hard times, I would give a peck of refuse wheat for all that is called fame in the world.” “Sweet,” says the poet, “sweet were the days when I was all unknown;
But when my name was lifted up, the storm
Broke on the mountain, and I cared not for it.”
Man’s soul thirsts and longs for something nobler, brighter, greater, and better than the world itself. As Macduff says: “As well try to fill the yawning chasm with a few grains of sand as satisfy the gulf of the soul’s desires with the pleasures of an empty world.” Nothing can satisfy the soul but God.
A revealing light.—A traveller who crosses the Alps by night sees only a foot or two before him; and he is as little alive to the extraordinary scene through which he is passing, to the beauties which encompass and to the risks which beset his path, as if he were walking quietly along the turnpike road from London to Cambridge. But as the early dawn breaks upon him, he becomes aware of those mountain pinnacles which tower above him till they hide their snowcapped summits in the very clouds of heaven; he sees the precipice which yawns at his very feet; he becomes conscious of dangers of which he had previously no idea; and he is grateful to the morning light which certainly has discovered to him a vision of unsuspected beauty, and which probably has saved him from an untimely death. And what is the question of our Blessed Lord in the text, but the very light of heaven itself, bringing out into sharp relief the real conditions of our personal existence!
The north of a soul.—We know the force and majesty of the thoughts of Pascal. The realms of space and the worlds in them are full of grandeur in his philosophy; but there is one thing compared with which all this vast material universe is nothing. “All the bodies, the stars, the firmament, the earth and all its kingdoms, are not worth one soul; for that soul knows both itself and them, and they know nothing.”
The soul the chief concern.—When the steamer London was lost some years ago on the English coast, among the many sad tales told in connexion with the shipwreck, I recollect reading of one in some respects the saddest of all. When the condition of the ship was hopeless, one of the passengers had gone down to his cabin, which was already under water, and had with some difficulty found his trunk, which he had carried up to the deck. The captain, who was standing by, waiting in silence for the inevitable catastrophe, shook his head as he saw what the poor man had done. He had saved his trunk; his life would be gone in a moment.
What then?—An aged Christian once asked a young man who was just entering business and laying out his plans for life, “What are you going to do? You are about to settle in business, I understand.” “Yes.” “And what do you intend then?” “I shall marry.” “And what then?” “I hope to make a fortune.” “And what then?” “I shall enter public life.” “And what then?” “I hope that I may make a family reputation.” “And what then?” “Well, 1 suppose I shall grow old and die.” “And what then?” The young man was silent. He had never looked so far ahead.
The legend of Ninus.—There is a legend of Ninus, the monarch of Assyria, that he had an ocean of gold and riches more than the sand of the Caspian Sea, but that he never offered sacrifice, nor worshipped God, nor administered justice—in a word, he spent a life of selfishness and indulgence with no sense of accountability to God or man. “This man is dead,” says the old chronicler. “Behold his sepulchre; and now hear where Ninus is” (he is supposed to be speaking from his tomb). “Sometime I was Ninus and drew the breath of a living man, but now I am nothing but clay; I have nothing but what I served to myself in lust—that was and is all my portion. The wealth with which I was blessed mine enemies shall bear away. I am gone to Tartarus, and when I went thither I neither carried gold nor horse nor chariot. I that wore a crown am now a little heap of dust.”
Not much left.—It is said of Saladin, also called the Great, that just before he gave his last sigh he called the herald who had carried his banner before him in all his battles, and commanded him to fasten to the top of a lance the shroud in which he was so soon to be buried. “Go,” said he, “unfurl the banner, and whilst you lift up this standard proclaim, ‘Saladin the mighty monarch is gone, and has taken no more with him than what you see.’ ”
As in life, so in death.—There is a story of one that, being often reproved for his ungodly and vicious life, and exhorted to repentance, would still answer that it was but saying three words at his death, and he was sure to be saved. Perhaps the three words he meant were, Miserere mei Deus (“God, have mercy on me”). But one day riding over a bridge, his horse stumbled, and both were falling into the river, when in the moment of that precipitation he only cried, Capiat omnia diabolus (“Horse and man and all to the devil”). Three words he had, but not such as he should have had. He had been so familiar with the devil all his life that he thinks of none else at his death. Thus it usually is, that a wicked life hath a wicked end. He that travels the way of hell all his lifetime, it is impossible in the end of the journey he should arrive at heaven. A worldly man dies rather thinking of his gold than his God Some die jeering, some raging; some in one distemper, some in another way. They lived so, and so they die.
Crushed by gold.—When Rome was besieged, it is said of the daughter of its ruler that she saw the golden bracelets on the arms of the enemy, and sent word to them that she would betray her city and deliver it into their hands if they would give her their bracelets. They readily accepted her proposition, and before sunset the daughter had secretly opened one of the gates to the city, and as the enemy entered they threw upon her their golden bracelets, and also their shields, until the great weight crushed her to death. How many poor souls to-day are striving to gain that which will in the end prove the means of their soul’s destruction!
Much lost for little.—When Lysimachus was engaged in a war with the Getæ, he was so tormented by thirst that he offered his kingdom to his enemies for permission to quench it. His exclamation, when he had drunk the water with which they furnished him, is striking. “Ah, wretched me, who for such a momentary gratification have lost so great a kingdom!” How applicable is this to the case of those who for the momentary pleasures of sin part with the kingdom of heaven!
The folly of sacrificing eternity to time.—When Sir Thomas More was in prison, his wife and children entreated him to yield to the king. “For so many years,” said his wife, “we might yet live together: why then can you, in the flower of your age, bring yourself and our family to the worst misfortunes?” “How many years,” said he, “do you suppose I can yet live?” “At least twenty,” said she. “What a foolish exchange,” exclaimed the Chancellor, “for twenty years of life here below, and very likely not so much, that I should give up life eternal and condemn myself to endless torments! Better lose all than my soul: ‘for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul?’ ”
Mar_8:37. The value of a soul.—It was doubtless when standing in full view of the niched rock cut by Greeks for the idol Pan, face to face with the lustrous marble temple to “divine Augustus” of the Romans at Cæsarea Philippi, that Christ said, “What shall a man give in exchange for his soul?” To Him belonged this costly adoration, squandered at the feet of idols; and He is a jealous God. There before His very eyes were the tokens of a false love. Jealousy in the purest woman’s heart, at sight of love-tokens bestowed upon another which were rightfully her own, is a severe, a biting thing, killing the one, or the two, or the three. Observe how poor and inadequate a thing is our English word “jealousy” with which to portray the Divine emotion. Our Blessed Lord laments over the value of a soul whose devotion is snatched from Himself; loves it all the more; condemns it with the unspeakable condemnation of wounded love; asks, “Once lost, what shall man give in exchange, to get it back again?” His “jealousy” drives Him to the Cross, that He may win His own again—the love of a priceless human soul. Let human jealousy learn a lesson. Lift yourself up on a cross, that you may draw unto yourself the heart you think you have lost.—E. J. Haynes.
Mar_8:38. Confession of Christ.—In his Confessions St. Augustine relates a story of Victorinus, an eminent man at Rome, who had won the respect of a large number of his countrymen, among whom were many heathen. When the Spirit of God dawned upon his heart, and the light of Christ therein shone, he went direct to one of his friends, and told him that he was a Christian. The friend replied, “I will never believe it until I see you openly profess your new faith in the church.” This text came to him with such force that he went back with his friend, and boldly and openly confessed Christ as his Saviour.
Confession of Christ.—A Roman emperor said to a Greek architect, “Build me a Colosseum, a grand colosseum, and if it suits me I will crown you in the presence of all the people, and I will make a great day of festival on your account.” The architect did his work—did it magnificently, planned the building, and looked after its construction. The building was finished, the opening day arrived, the emperor and the architect were in the Colosseum. Amid loud cheers the emperor arose and announced that the day was set apart in honour of the Greek architect, and everything must be done to his honour. “Let us make merry and enjoy ourselves; bring out those Christians, and let us see the lions destroy them.” A group of imprisoned Christians were led forth, and a number of half-starved lions turned loose among them. They were soon devoured, and the architect slowly arose, and in a firm though gentle voice said, “I too am a Christian.” The howling mob seized him and flung him to the fierce beasts, who soon tore his limbs from his body. This is confession, true and undefiled. It is easy enough to confess Christ before our own Church and friends, but do we confess Him among those that revile Him? Do we go among men that despise His precepts, and by our very life tell of Him? If we do not, we do not do our duty as His followers.
Confession of Christ unknown to nominal Christians.—A Hindoo of rank was troubled in his conscience on the subject of a future state. He had heard of Christians, and longed to converse with them about their religion, and to know who Christ was. So he visited England, the Christians’ land, supplied with introductions to some leading people. Being asked to a great dinner, he turned to his neighbour in the course of conversation, and said, “Can you tell me something about Christ, the founder of your religion?” “Hush,” replied his new acquaintance, “we do not speak of such things at dinner-parties.” Subsequently he was invited to a large ball. Dancing with a young and fashionable lady, he took an opportunity of asking her who the founder of her religion, Jesus Christ, was. And again he was warned that a ball was no place to introduce such subjects. Strange, thought the Hindoo, are these Christians in England. They will not speak of their religion, nor inform me about Christ, its founder.
No silent partners.—“I come, sir,” said a business man to a minister of the gospel, “to ask if Jesus Christ will take me into the firm as a silent partner.” The reply was, “Jesus Christ takes no silent partners; the firm must be ‘Jesus Christ & Co.,’ and the names of the ‘Co.,’ though they may occupy a subordinate place, must all be written out on the signboard.”
Power of confession.—In relating his experience during the Peninsular War, Captain Watson says: “I was nominated to sit on a garrison court-martial A number of officers of different ranks and regiments were present on the occasion, and before the proceedings commenced some of them indulged in loose and sceptical observations. ‘Alas,’ thought I, ‘here are many not ashamed to speak openly for their master, and shall I hold my peace and refrain when the honour and cause of Him who has had mercy on me are called in question?’ I looked for wisdom and assistance from on high, and I was enabled to speak for a quarter of an hour in a way that astonished my hearers and myself. The Lord was pleased to give what I said a favourable reception, and not another improper word was uttered by them during my stay in that room.”
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary (gen. ed. Joseph S. Exell; Funk & Wagnalls, c. 1892) — public domain (pre-1929). A full-Bible homiletical/sermon-outline anthology covering 65 of 66 books (2 John is absent from the source module). Text from a community e-Sword module.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv1–2 Mat 16:27-28. “For the Son of man is about…
THE SECOND COMING
Mat 16:27-28. “For the Son of man is about to come in the glory of His Father, with His angels, and will then give to each one according to his work. Truly, I say unto you, There are certain ones of those standing here who may not taste of death, until they may see the Son of man coming in His kingdom.” Mar 8:38; Mar 9:1 : “For whosoever shall be ashamed of Me and My words in this adulterous and wicked generation, truly, the Son of man shall be ashamed of him, when He may come in the glory of His Father, with His holy angels. And He said to them, Truly, I say unto you, That there are certain ones of those standing here who may not taste of death until they may see the kingdom of God having come in power.”
Read full note →
Luk 9:26-27 : “For whosoever may be ashamed of Me and My words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when He shall come in His glory, and that of the Father, and that of the holy angels. And, truly, I say unto you, There are certain ones of those standing here who may not taste of death until they may see the kingdom of God.” Very pertinently does our Savior here follow that terribly rigid and close sermon on discipleship, by one of the grandest of all possible inspirations, to settle the problem of discipleship, at any and every conceivable cost, making sure of heaven if we lose everything else, which is certainly the normal verdict of sound intelligence.
a. As this passage, recorded by Mark and Luke, reads in E.V., it has been the puzzle of millions. I know not why they give us the future tense, indicative mode, when the Greek has the present subjunctive. Within about one week from the time of this utterance, Peter, James, and John actually witnessed a prelude of His second coming on the Mount of Transfiguration.
“For not having followed cunningly devised fables, having made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but having been eye-witnesses of His majesty. . . . And we heard this voice borne from heaven, being along with Him in the holy mount.” (2Pe 1:16-18.)
Here you see, Peter certifies that they witnessed His power and coming, while they were with Him in the holy mount. Now what was that holy mount? Why the Mount of Transfiguration, which they actually visited in a few days from that time, it being the preliminary coming of the Lord in His glory; i.e., an actual adumbration of His second coming. As Peter, James, and John were all present in His audience, and actually witnessed this prelude of His second and glorious coming, we, on the Mount of Transfiguration, have a preliminary fulfillment of this prophecy.
b. Within forty years of that date, while many of those people were still living, the Lord actually came, in His awful retributive judgments on the unbelieving Jews, executing righteous retribution for the rejection of His Son, destroying Jerusalem, and desolating the land with the awful scourge of the Roman armies, putting an end to the Jewish State and nationality, and annihilating the Jewish polity. Some able critics here find the fulfillment of this prophecy.
c. On the day of Pentecost the kingdom did certainly, as Mark says, “come in power,” having been on earth during the ministry of our Savior; but in the fiery baptisms and rushing tempest on the day of Pentecost it certainly did come in the signal manifestation of unprecedented power.
d. I see no reason why we may not take the whole passage as it is, and apply it to the existing generation, as it simply affirms a gracious possibility; i.e., there are some of those who are standing here, who may not taste of death until they may see the Son of man coming in His kingdom. Hence you see it simply affirms a gracious possibility on the part of that generation to see the Son of man coming in His glory, with the glory of the Father and the holy angels, before they pass away. You must remember that man has always been a failure. He failed in Eden; failed in antediluvian times; failed after the flood, landing in Egyptian slavery; failed in Judaism, rejecting and murdering their own Savior; and, according to the prophecies, will fail in the Gentile age, bringing on the tribulation, and forfeiting the millennium. Is not this very discouraging? O no! While man is a failure under all circumstances, God is an invariable and glorious success. Hence, all of these human failures should only inspire us to give up humanity, and fly to God, sinking away, lost in Him, to spend an eternity of bliss. The generation contemporary with Jesus was no exception. There was a gracious possibility for that generation to have preached the gospel to every nation, and so evangelize the world as to meet the condition of our Lord’s return (Mat 24:14); as in that case He would have returned in His glory before the death of that generation. Here our Savior assures us, “Whosoever may be ashamed of Me and My words, in this wicked and adulterous world, the Son of man shall be ashamed of him, when He may come in the glory of His Father, with His holy angels.” Remember, this is the peroration of that awful sermon on discipleship, which nowadays is dodged, perverted, and misconstrued by clergy and laity, laying under contribution all their wits, to devise an easy way to heaven, washing, dressing, and educating old Adam, and taking him along with them. N.B. In a similar manner we find so many tender footed on the coming of the Lord, which our Savior here gives in immediate connection with His exposition of discipleship. The true, blood-washed, fire-baptized, and Spirit-filled disciple is not troubled when we preach the coming of the Lord, but elated with heaven-born enthusiasm, causing him to leap, shout, and run to meet Him. Jesus here calls the people who are ashamed of Him and His words, “a wicked and adulterous generation.” Far from shame or embarrassment at the coming of the Lord, we should be watching and waiting, and ready with shouts, to meet Him. “And now, little children, abide in Him, in order that if He may appear, we may have boldness, and not shrink with embarrassment from Him at His coming.” E.V. says we “may not be ashamed.” This is the same word which our Lord uses with reference to His words and His presence when He comes in His glory. Hence we should all be so saved and sanctified as to put us in perfect harmony with the words of Jesus; so we do not want to turn and twist them about, nor evade their force in any way, but want them to remain just as Jesus gave them. And as to Himself, “He is the fairest among ten thousand, and altogether lovely.” Since His ascension, the widowed Church has mourned the absence of her Heavenly Spouse, and longed for His return, even now watching and waiting, ready to run to meet Him with shouts of triumph. So be sure that you are not ashamed nor embarrassed, when you read His Word, and contemplate His personal coming in a cloud this day.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Sermon Bible 1900 · Public Domain On v1 I. When Jesus thus revealed Himself on the Mount…
Mar 9:8
I. When Jesus thus revealed Himself on the Mount of Transfiguration, He may be said to have taken, by anticipation, so much of that Divine glory with which He is now adorned, in heaven, as would call forth the wonder and admiration, without confounding the faculties, of the beholders.
Read full note →
II. The transfiguration of our Lord afforded a powerful attestation to His Divine character, and the truth of His mission to the world. Moses and Elias would never have appeared to support the pretensions of an impostor.
III. Moreover, the same wondrous transformation on Mount Tabor placed beyond a doubt the fact of the soul’s immortality and the resurrection of the body. Not only did the face of the Saviour shine as the sun, and His raiment become white and glistering, but Moses and Elias, also, appeared with Him in glory. What was this but a representation and pledge of the final blessedness of the redeemed. St. Martin of Tours was once meditating in his cell, when a radiant form appeared to him, with a jewelled crown on His head, a countenance resplendent with glory, and with a manner so impressive that it seemed to demand homage and love. The heavenly vision said to St. Martin, "I am Christ; worship Me," and the legend goes on to say that the saint looked upon this glorious form in silence, then gazed upon the hands and asked, "Where is the print of the nails?" Forthwith the vision departed, and St Martin knew that it was the crafty tempter. The same question, Where is the print of the nails? will relieve many an anxious doubt, and reveal the way of duty.
IV. There are times in the history of God’s children, when, the brightest visions having faded away, like the disciples in the text, "they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves." Can there possibly be a happier or more sustaining thought than this? The little word only reminds us, that we need not be afraid for ten thousands of the people that have set themselves in array against us, if Jesus be our Friend. Each trusting heart may claim Him, as if no one else shared in His all-perfect love.
J. N. Norton, Golden Truths, p. 312.
References: Mar 9:8.—J. M. Neale, Sermons in a Religious House, p. 440. Mar 9:9-32.—W. Hanna, Our Lord’s Life on Earth, p. 264. Mar 9:10.—J. Baldwin Brown, Christian World Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 360; J. B. Heard, Ibid., vol. xxiii., p. 260. Mar 9:14-29.—H. M. Luckock, Footprints of the Son of Man, p. 197. Mar 9:15.—Spurgeon, Evening by Evening, p. 241.
Mar 9:19
Christ’s Lament over Faithlessness.
I. The first thing that seems to be in this lament is not anger, but a very distinct and very pathetic expression of Christ’s infinite pain, because of man’s faithlessness. The element of personal sorrow is most obvious here. All that men have ever felt—of how hard it is to keep on working when not a soul understands them, when not a single creature believes in them, when there is nobody that will accept their message, nor that will give them credit for pure motives,—Jesus Christ had to feel, and that in an altogether singular degree. There never was such a lonely soul on this earth as His, just because there never was another so pure and loving.
II. In this short sharp cry of anguish, there may be detected by the listening ear not only the tone of personal hurt, but the tone of disappointed and thwarted love. Because of their unbelief He knew that they could not receive what He desired to give them. We find Him more than once in His life hemmed in, hindered, balked of His purpose,—thwarted in His design—simply because there was nobody with a heart open to receive the rich treasure that He was ready to pour out.
III. Another thought which seems to me to be expressed in this wonderful exclamation of our Lord is, that their faithlessness bound Christ to earth, and kept Him there. As there is not anger, but only pain, so there is also, I think, not exactly impatience, but a desire to depart, coupled with the feeling that He cannot leave them till they have grown stronger in faith, and that feeling is increased by the experience of their utter helplessness and shameful discomfiture during His brief absence. They had shown that they were not fit to be trusted alone. He had been away for a day up in the mountain there, and though they did not build an altar to any golden calf, like their ancestors, when their leader was absent, still when He comes back He finds all things gone wrong because of the few hours of His absence. What would they do if He were to go away from them altogether? "How long must I be with you?" said the loving Teacher, who is prepared ungrudgingly to give His slow scholar as much time as he needs to learn his lesson.
IV. Again, we here get a glimpse into the depth of Christ’s patience and forbearance. This plaintive question sounds like a pledge that as long as they need forbearance they will get it, but at the same time a question of how long that is to be. It implies the inexhaustible riches and resources of His patient mercy,
A. Maclaren, Week Day Evening Addresses, p. 54.
References: Mar 9:19.—Spurgeon, Morning by Morning, p. 261. Mar 9:22.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. v., p. 182.
Mar 9:23
Christ’s "If" answered and more than answered the man’s "if." The man had said, "if thou canst do anything"; Christ reversed it and showed where the real contingency lay. "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth." And why are all things possible to him that believeth? Because he that believeth takes hold of Christ and uses His omnipotence.
I. Observe first the expression. "If thou canst believe," not, "if thou dost believe." Every man who has not made himself lower than a man, and so lost the position of our common humanity—every man has some faith. And every man who uses the faith he has, will increase its’ power and acquire more. You are the arbiter of your own creed, and your faith is also the test of your own moral condition. And our Lord was not mocking the father of the lunatic child—He was not making a requirement of that which was an impossibility, but He was elevating his mind, and carrying on his own spiritual life, when He said to him "If thou canst believe."
II. The outside boundary line of the province of faith, properly so called, is promises. Faith is laying hold, I do not say of what God is, for God may be and is much which we cannot understand enough even to believe—but it is laying hold of what God has covenanted Himself to us—what God is to His people. The promises are what God is to His Church, therefore faith confines itself to promises.
III. The text does not say "All things are given to him that believeth," but "All things are possible to him that believeth." It may happen, for various causes, that a man may not, at a certain period, receive even what he believes and seeks. God may have some wise, secret reason for not giving it at that time. The man himself, though, he has the faith, may yet have to learn how to use and express his faith better. There is no promise respecting the time, or the way; there is the promise, but not the how or the when. All that is asserted is this, that when a man has the faith of a mercy, he has then the possibility of that mercy. Then, all barriers have been removed, and he may have that mercy at any time, and be sure to have that mercy some time.
J. Vaughan, Sermons, 1868, p. 85.
References: Mar 9:25.—Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. viii., No. 474; vol. xxix., No. 1744; Ibid., Evening by Evening, pp. 222, 281; J. M. Neale, Sermons for the Christian Year, vol. ii., p. 193.
Mar 9:23-24
Present Phases of Unbelief.
I. Unbelief may have its rise and find occasion in three directions—the external world, man, and the nature of Christianity itself. One meets constantly the words Agnosticism and Positivism, and these words indicate the channel in which unbelief at present flows.
II. The very principle of the Agnostic involves a contradiction. He declares that man cannot know that there is a God—that God, if He exists, cannot make Himself known. Is not this professing to know a very great deal? This is not agnostic—without knowledge; this is claiming to have an exhaustive knowledge both of man and God, claiming a knowledge, too, in plainest contradiction to human history and human consciousness.
III. One of the characteristics of the unbelief of the present time is its high ethical spirit and purpose. In this it stands wholly opposed to the atheism of former days, which often sought to efface moral distinctions. Our quarrel with this phase of unbelief is, that it ignores man, that it does not look at the facts of the soul, in comparison with which all others are fading pictures. It is fractional and exclusive. Christianity is wide and impartial. It believes that the true reason is the utterance of man’s whole nature.
IV. The Positivist rejects agnosticism He is successful in showing that agnosticism as a religion fails in the three essential elements—belief, worship, conduct. But when he comes to exhibit his own substitute for Christianity, he creates a feeling of surprise, of bewilderment. It is collective humanity that he proposes to worship. While rejecting all abstractions and theories, and professing to regard only fact and law, "law social, moral, mental as well as physical," he is guilty of worshipping the most entire, and at the same time the most incongruous abstraction. He forgets that men can only worship that which can respond.
V. Another phase of unbelief specially characteristic of our time, and by which it seeks to overthrow religion, is the exclusive claim to disinterestedness.
VI. Our age supplies in its spirit and tendency three antidotes to its own phase of unbelief. (1) The study of the comparative science of religions. The effect of this is to deepen on the mind the conviction that religion is an essential part of human nature, and the dominating part. (2) The strongly ethical character of much of the literature of the time and the deep interest taken in the discussion of ethical questions is on the side of religion. (3) The best poets are among the best friends of religion in our day.
J. Leckie, Sermons at Ibrox, p. 362.
References: Mar 9:23, Mar 9:24.—Clergyman’s Magazine, vol. iii., p. 281; J. Natt, Plain Sermons, p. 166.
Mar 9:24
The transfiguration marks, so it seems, a crisis in our blessed Lord’s history. It was a great out-shining of the glory of God in the sacred Humanity, permitted alike for the strengthening of the Son for His bitter passion, and for the more confirmation of the staggering faith of the holy Apostles as they witnessed the descent of their Master low down into the valley of His unfathomable humiliation. Henceforth His eye seems ever to be fixed on the cross. Many people have seen Raphael’s famous picture of the Transfiguration. It is a striking contrast and absolutely necessary if we would really grasp the meaning of the miracle. The lesson of the contrast is:
I. "Seek ye My face." Cultivate the presence of Jesus Christ; realise that any conversation, any pleasure, any companionship, any business where He cannot be called, tempts Him to leave the soul; that a life lived without Him must end in darkness and in shame. Realise on the other hand, that wherever our lot may be cast, in poverty, in sickness, in loneliness, it matters not where, it is well, so only in meekness we cling to Him.
II. As you think of our Lord descending from the height of glory to this scene of sadness and sorrow, see a picture of His love. This demoniac boy, what was he but a type of the sin-stricken world? These vain attempts alike of the Jewish Church and of the Apostles not yet gifted with the Holy Ghost, how it all tells us of the thousand efforts made, now by pious Jews, now by those outside the covenant of Promise, to heal the plague of a fallen world, yet was it all in vain. So He, the Eternal, left the Holy Mount, clad Himself in the robe of flesh, and all that He might expel from our souls the evil spirit who had robbed God of His creature, man.
III. See the power of faith: "All things are possible to him that believeth." The father cried, "If Thou canst do any thing, have compassion on us, and help us." The reason why miracles are not wrought today is, not because Christ has failed in power, but because we have failed in faith, the faith as a grain of mustard seed is lacking.
IV. See the power of self purification. "This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting."
T. Birkett Dover, The Ministry of Mercy, p. 175.
If these words express a real state of mind—and who that knows his own heart can doubt for a moment that they do?—it is evident that belief and unbelief can co-exist at the same time; that unbelief is not at once eradicated because we say "I believe;" that belief is not unreal, not hollow, because it is sadly lacerated, and sometimes as it would seem almost interpenetrated, with the poison of unbelief.
I. When the father of the stricken child cried out and said with tears, "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief," He knew what he meant. He meant this: "Lord, I do believe that Thou canst heal my child. How it can be, I know not; but everything tells me that Thou canst aid me. I do believe, though I hardly know why. Give me clearer knowledge. Help my unbelief. But meanwhile heal my son. I know that Thou canst do that." We need healing. Do we know that we need it? If we do, the doctrine of the Trinity is not far from our hearts, however perplexing it may be to our intellects. If we do not know it, our Lord Himself, though He were again present on the earth, could not prove to us that He is one with the Father and the Comforter.
II. Men believed to be inspired have by all people been regarded with peculiar veneration. The veneration has often been paid to an inspiration which certainly did not come from the spirit of good. But our temptation is to disbelieve inspiration altogether, as a present, operative reality; to regard men as left to themselves, as the authors of their own good and their own evil; to deny a Divine presence; to regard God as a Being historically past or indefinitely future; as One who did speak to the Jews, and will hereafter speak to us, but leaves us now to pass unassisted through a probation which is to fit us for knowing Him in a different state of existence. He who believes in a Holy Ghost sees mankind under a different aspect. They are either grieving or obeying that Divine Spirit. Their evil is rebellion. Their good is God’s. It is possible to say in folly, "There is no God"—no Spirit. It is also possible to say and to feel, "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief." God revealed Himself gradually to the world. He reveals Himself gradually to us. We pray that His work may go on in our hearts; that no prejudice, or sin, or indolence, or insincerity of ours may thwart Him. We believe that the doctrine of three Persons in one God, so far from being an abysmal mystery which it may be right to accept but impossible to make practical, is the one thing which it is most needful for us all to know. "Lord, we believe; help Thou our unbelief."
H. M. Butler, Harrow Sermons, p. 61.
Take these words:
I. As the voice of one seeking salvation. Now, if one ask salvation for another, or for himself, Christ demands faith, and in demanding, helps faith to exist and act. "Lord I believe." How do I believe? It is the Lord who, by the secret power of His Holy Spirit, enables me to believe at all. And yet, what we are conscious of, when we first believe, is not of that Divine touch of the quickening Spirit, but of the action of our own souls, taking hold upon Him, according to His words, as our only and all-sufficient Helper and Healer, and putting our entire trust in Him. "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief."
II. As the voice of the Christian in some anguish of spirit. Grant that the first lessons of faith have been learned, and the elements of new life and hope have been planted in the soul. It is seldom that men understand the real use and value of faith, or the real strength and mischief of unbelief, until they have fallen into some distress, or wrestled with some great sorrow. Adversity or discouragement comes, and words will not support us then. We are alone with a heavy grief, or involved in something that, of all things, we wanted to avoid and shrink from, or face to face with what we know not how to bear. We toss on the sea and the wind is contrary, and where is our faith? Ah! it is with a struggle then that we believe, and we quickly add, "Lord, help mine unbelief."
III. As the words of the believer in view of duty, or of some holy privilege. (1) Say of duty first. You have some lowly work to do for the Lord on whom you wait. There are trials about very lowly work. At times you have your temptations. Your motives become complicated because you have lost your simplicity of faith and purpose and your singleness of eye looking at your Master’s hand and countenance. Then make haste to the Saviour and pray unto Him. "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief." (2) It may be, you advance to some holy privilege of grace, say the Lord’s table. Go with your faint heart, your feeble faith, and your emptiness and helplessness, to the fulness of Jesus Christ, and you will not fare worst at His table. And when you say, "Lord Jesus, I do believe," then add in a breath, "Help Thou mine unbelief."
IV. As the voice of the whole Church on earth anxious for the salvation of her children. She has a constant struggle to maintain the holy faith, and overcome the doubts and incredulities that are springing up within her pale. The mediæval missionary, the Reformer, the Puritan, and the Covenanter, had none of that dapper orthodoxy which now-a-days casts its measuring line over all. He fought his doubts and gathered strength, and while he had a faith that gave courage to his heart and gravity to his character and heroism to his life, on that very account he felt that he must judge himself rather than other men, and that he must cry for himself in the battle of life, "Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief." I should have more hope for the cause of truth now if we saw the same type of brave and humble Christian character returning, of course with the additional charm of the culture of the present age.
D. Fraser, Penny Pulpit (New Series), No. 444.
The Struggle and Victory of Faith.
We learn here:
I. That faith and unbelief are often found in the same heart.
II. That whenever faith and unbelief meet in an earnest heart there will be war.
III. We can foretell how the war will go, by the side which a man’s heart takes.
IV. The way to be sure of the victory of faith is to call in the help of Christ.
J. Ker, Sermons, 2nd series, p. 1.
References: Mar 9:24.—R. W. Evans, Parochial Sermons, vol. ii., p. 229; G. C. Bell, Church of England Pulpit, vol. viii., p. 17; M. Dix, Sermons Doctrinal and Practical, p. 195; Spurgeon, Sermons, vol. xviii., No. 1033; Ibid., My Sermon Notes: Gospels and Acts, p. 71; Preacher’s Monthly, vol. iii., p. 345; vol. vii., p. 165; vol. ix., p. 181; J. Martineau, Endeavours after the Christian Life, p. 343. Mar 9:29.—W. F. Hook, Sermons on the Miracles, vol. ii., p. 83. Mar 9:30-41.—H. M. Luckock, Footprints of the Son of Man, p. 202; W. Hanna, Our Lord’s Life on Earth, p. 272. Mar 9:33.—G. E. L. Cotton, Sermons and Addresses in Mar thorough College, p. 19.
Mar 9:33-37
The child in the midst.
Note:—
I. That our Lord’s lesson lay, not in the humanity, but in the childhood of the child. The disciples had been disputing who should be the greatest, and the Lord wanted to show them that such a dispute had nothing to do with the way things went in His kingdom. Therefore, as a specimen of His subjects, He took a child and set him before them. It was not, it could not, be in virtue of his humanity, it was in virtue of his childhood that this child was thus shown as representing a subject of the Kingdom. It was not to show the scope, but the nature of the Kingdom. He told them they could not enter into the Kingdom save by becoming little children—by humbling themselves, for the idea of ruling was excluded where childlikeness was the one essential quality. It was to be no more who should rule, but who should serve; no more who should look down on his fellows from the conquered heights of authority—even of sacred authority—but who should look up, honouring humanity and ministering unto it, so that humanity itself might be persuaded of its own honour as a temple of the living God.
II. This lesson led to the enunciation of a yet higher truth, upon which it was founded, and from which indeed it sprung. Nothing is required of man that is not first in God. It is because God is perfect that we are required to be perfect; and it is for the revelation of God to all the human souls, that they may be saved by knowing Him, and so becoming like Him, that this child is thus chosen, and set before them in the gospel. It is the recognition of the childhood as Divine, that will show the disciple how vain is the strife after relative place or honour in the great Kingdom.
III. To receive a child in the name of God is to receive God Himself. How to receive Him? As alone He can be received—by knowing Him as He is. Here is the argument of highest import, founded upon the teaching of our Master in the utterance before us. God is represented in Jesus, for that God is like Jesus; Jesus is represented in the child, for that Jesus is like the child. Therefore God is represented in the child, for that He is like the child. God is childlike. In the true vision of this fact lies the receiving of God in the child.
G. Macdonald, Unspoken Sermons, p. 1.
References: Mar 9:33-37.—A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 200. Mar 9:33-50.—Expositor, 1st series, vol. xi., p. 79; A. Maclaren, Three Hundred Outlines on the New Testament, p. 37. Mar 9:35-37.—D. Fraser, Metaphors of the Gospel, p. 157. Mar 9:36.—H. J. Wilmot-Buxton, Waterside Mission Sermons, 2nd series, No. 11. Mar 9:36, Mar 9:37.—J. Keble, Sermons for Saints’ Day, p. 77. Mar 9:38.—H. P. Liddon, University Sermons, 2nd series, p. 165.
Mar 9:38-39
Persons who choose their religion for themselves, or who wander about from one communion of Christians to another at their will, often urge upon us who wish to be disciples of the faith, which was once delivered to the saints, this passage of Scripture. They argue that as the Apostles were not allowed to forbid this stranger, neither may the Church forbid strange teachers and preachers; that all have a right to preach, whether they follow the Church or no, so that they do but preach in the name of Jesus, without any molestation.
I. Now I deny that the case in the text is at all parallel to that which it is brought to justify, as a few remarks will show. (1) First then, this man was not preaching, he was casting out devils. This is a great difference—he was doing a miracle. Man cannot overcome the devil, Christ alone overcomes him. If a man cast out a devil, he has power from Christ; and if he has power from Christ, he must have a commission from Christ; and who shall forbid one to whom God gives commission to do miracles, from doing them? That would be fighting against God. But, on the other hand, many a man may preach without being sent from God, and having power from Him. (2) But it may be said, The effects of preaching are a miracle. I answer that though such preaching did work what looks like a miracle, this would not prove that it came from God; for the false prophets, against whom our Saviour warns us, are to do "signs and wonders, to seduce, if it were possible, even the elect." (3) Even if sinners were converted under such an one’s preaching, this would not show that he did the work, or at least, that he had more than a share in it. The miracle after all might belong to the Church, not to him.
II. It should be observed, that if our Saviour says, on this occasion, "He that is not against us is on our part"; yet elsewhere He says, "He that is not with Me is against Me." The truth is, while a system is making way against an existing state of things, help of any kind advances it; but when it is established, the same kind of professed help tells against it. Before the Gospel was received, those who did not oppose the Apostles actually aided them; when it was received, the very same parties interfered with them. Let us consider when it was that our Saviour spoke the words in the text. It was at a time when there was no Church, when He had not yet set up His Church; we have no warrant, therefore, in saying, that because men might work in Christ’s name, without following the Apostles, before He had built up His Church, and had made them the foundations of it, therefore such persons may do so lawfully since.
J. H. Newman, Parochial and Plain Sermons, vol. vi., p. 190.
References: Mar 9:40.—Homilist, 3rd series, vol. vii., p. 103. Mar 9:41.—Homiletic Quarterly, vol. iv., p. 535; vol. vii., p. 275; Homilist, vol. vi., p. 395. Mar 9:42-50.—A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 231; H. M. Luckock, Footprints of the Son of Man, p. 207.
Mar 9:43-44
These are words from the lips of Christ; what do they mean? They were evidently spoken in a very serious and solemn mood, and were evidently intended to represent a very serious and solemn reality.
I. Now we know what the popular opinion is, concerning the hell of which Christ speaks, and I must needs begin by repudiating it under the constraint, the irresistible constraint of the conviction, that it is diametrically opposed to all that He has shown and told us of God; that it contravenes entirely the revelation which He has brought to us of the Father. What then is this hell, with its unquenchable fire, of which Christ warns us. To go into hell, was on His lips, as you know, simply to go into Gehenna, and Gehenna was the Syro-Chaldaic word for the Hebrew Gahinnom, "valley of Hinnom"—a narrow valley with steep rocky sides, running south-west of Jerusalem; but a ravine with a history. It would seem to have become "the common cesspool of the city, into which its sewage was conducted, to be carried off by the waters of the Kedron," as well as the spot where combustible refuse of various kinds was gathered to be burnt. It represented to the Jews as being "the lay-stall of Jerusalem’s filth,"—the ultimate portion of corrupt souls.
II. Gehenna was the state of moral unwholesomeness, of corruption, to which they would invariably reduce themselves, who refused to give up what they felt to be perilous, or prejudicial to their interests, as moral creatures.... When Christ says, Better life with self-mortification than self-indulgence with Gehenna, Gehenna, on His tongue, must needs stand for corruption, since corruption is the antithesis of life, and the literal Gehenna, as we have seen, was emphatically the place of corruption. Yes, the hell by which Christ warns us to be loyal to the demands of faith, to the voice of the soul within us, is just the inward depravity which disloyalty and unfaithfulness in such directions are certain to breed; and what hell can be worse than that?
III. But the Lord Jesus goes on to speak of the fire of Gehenna, passing thus from the thought of the corruption induced by unworthy self-indulgence, to the thought of what such corruption shall be subject to. Gehenna, he says, is frequently lit up with fires; fires kindled for the consumption of the refuse collected there; and remember, that in the moral world of God, wherever there is corruption, there sooner or later, fire will surely come, to attack it remorselessly, until it shall be purged away.
S. A. Tipple, Echoes of Spoken Words, p. 143.
References: Mar 9:47, Mar 9:48.—Christian World Pulpit, vol. xi., p. 216. Mar 9:50.—Preacher’s Monthly, vol. x., p. 28. Mar 10:1-12.—H. M. Luckock, Footprints of the Son of Man, p. 211. Mar 10:1-27.—A. B. Bruce, The Training of the Twelve, p. 251; W. Hanna, Our Lord’s Life on Earth, p. 257. Mar 10:2-52.—Ibid. x. 13, 14.—Sermons on the Catechism, p. 230; Plain Sermons by Contributors to "Tracts for the Times," vol. iii., p. 241. Mar 10:13-15.—J. Aldis, Christian World Pulpit, vol. xxiv., p. 280.
The Sermon Bible, ed. William Robertson Nicoll (1888–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v2 Mar 9:2 - Mar 9:13.
Mark
THE TRANSFIGURATION
Read full note →
Mar 9:2 - Mar 9:13.
All three Evangelists are careful to date the Transfiguration by a reference to the solemn new teaching at Caesarea, and Mark’s ‘six days’ plainly cover the same time as Luke’s ‘eight’-the former reckoning excluding in the count, and the latter including, the days on which the two incidents occurred. If we would understand the Transfiguration, then, we must look at it as the sequel to Jesus’ open announcement of His death. His seeking the seclusion of the hills, attended only by the innermost group of the faithful three, is a touching token of the strain to which that week had subjected Him. How Peter’s heart must have filled with thankfulness that, notwithstanding the stern rebuke, he was taken with the other two! There were three stages in the complex incident which we call the Transfiguration-the change in Jesus’ appearance, the colloquy with Moses and Elijah, and the voice from the cloud.
Luke, who has frequent references to Jesus’ prayers, tells us that the change in our Lord’s countenance and raiment took place ‘as He prayed’; and probably we are reverently following his lead if we think of Jesus’ prayer as, in some sense, the occasion of the glorious change. So far as we know, this was the only time when mortal eyes saw Him absorbed in communion with the Father. It was only ‘when He ceased praying’ in a certain place that ‘they came to Him’ asking to be taught to pray {Luk 11:1}; and in Gethsemane the disciples slept while He prayed beneath the olives quivering in the moonlight. It may be that what the three then saw did not occur then only. ‘In such an hour of high communion with’ His Father the elevated spirit may have more than ordinarily illuminated the pure body, and the pure body may have been more than ordinarily transparent. The brighter the light, fed by fragrant oil within an alabaster lamp, the more the alabaster will glow. Faint foreshadowings of the spirit’s power to light up the face with unearthly beauty of holiness are not unknown among us. It may be that the glory which always shone in the depths of His perfectly holy manhood rose, as it were, to the surface for that one time, a witness of what He really was, a prophecy of what humanity may become.
Did Jesus will His transfiguration, or did it come about without His volition, or perhaps even without His consciousness? Did it continue during all the time on the mountain, or did it pass when the second stage of the incident began? We cannot tell. Matthew and Mark both say that Jesus was transfigured ‘before’ the three, as if the making visible of the glory had special regard to them. It may be that Jesus, like Moses, ‘knew not that the skin of His face shone’; at all events, it was the second stage of the incident, the conversation with Elijah and Moses, that had a special message of strength for Him. The first and third stages were, apparently, intended for the three and for us all; and the first is a revelation, not only of the veiled glory that dwelt in Jesus, but of the beauty that may pass into a holy face, and of the possibilities of a bodily frame becoming a ‘spiritual body,’ the adequate organ and manifestation of a perfect spirit. Paul teaches the prophetic aspect of the Transfiguration when he says that Jesus ‘shall change the body of our humiliation that it may be fashioned like unto the body of His glory.’
Luke adds two very significant points to the accounts by Matthew and Mark-namely, the disciples’ sleep, and the subject on which Moses and Elijah talked with Jesus. Mark lays the main stress on the fact that the two great persons of the old economy, its founder and its restorer, the legislator and the chief of the prophets, came from the dim region to which one of them had passed in a chariot of fire, and stood by the transfigured Christ, as if witnessing to Him as the greater, to whom their ministries were subordinate, and in whom their teachings centred. Jesus is the goal of all previous revelation, mightier than the mightiest who are honoured by being His attendants. He is the Lord both of the dead and of the living, and the ‘spirits of just men made perfect’ bow before Him, and reverently watch His work on earth.
So much did that appearance proclaim to the mortal three, but their slumber showed that they were not principally concerned, and that the other three had things to speak which they were not fit to hear. The theme was the same which had been, a week before, spoken to them, and had doubtless been the subject of all Jesus’ teachings for these ‘six days.’ No doubt, their horror at the thought, and His necessary insistence on it, had brought Him to need strengthening. And these two came, as did the angel in Gethsemane, and, like him, in answer to Christ’s prayer, to bring the sought-for strength. How different it would be to speak to them ‘of the decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem,’ from speaking to the reluctant, protesting Twelve! And how different to listen to them speaking of that miracle of divine love expressed in human death from the point of view of the ‘principalities and powers in heavenly places,’ as over against the remonstrances and misunderstandings with which He had been struggling for a whole week! The appearance of Moses and Elijah teaches us the relation of Jesus to all former revelation, the interest of the dwellers in heavenly light in the Cross, and the need which Jesus felt for strengthening to endure it.
Peter’s foolish words, half excused by his being scarcely awake, may be passed by with the one remark that it was like him to say something, though he did not know what to say, and that it would therefore have been wise to say nothing.
The third part of this incident, the appearance of the cloud and the voice from it, was for the disciples. Luke tells us that it was a ‘bright’ cloud, and yet it ‘overshadowed them.’ That sets us on the right track and indicates that we are to think of the cloud of glory, which was the visible token of the divine presence, the cloud which shone lambent between the cherubim, the cloud which at last ‘received Him out of their sight.’ Luke tells, too, that ‘they entered into it.’ Who entered? Moses and Elijah had previously ‘departed from Him.’ Jesus and the disciples remained, and we cannot suppose that the three could have passed into that solemn glory, if He had not led them in. In that sacred moment He was ‘the way,’ and keeping close to Him, mortal feet could pass into the glory which even a Moses had not been fit to behold. The spiritual significance of the incident seems to require the supposition that, led by Jesus, they entered the cloud. They were men, therefore they were afraid; Jesus was with them, therefore they stood within the circle of that light and lived.
The voice repeated the attestation of Jesus as the ‘beloved Son’ of the Father, which had been given at the baptism, but with the addition, ‘Hear Him,’ which shows that it was now meant for the disciples, not, as at the baptism, for Jesus Himself. While the command to listen to His voice as to the voice from the cloud is perfectly general, and lays all His words on us as all God’s words, it had special reference to the disciples, and that in regard to the new teaching which had so disturbed them-the teaching of the necessity for His death. ‘The offence of the Cross’ began with the first clear statement of it, and in the hearts that loved Him best and came most near to understanding Him. To fail in accepting His teaching that it ‘behoved the Son of Man to suffer,’ is to fail in accepting it in the most important matter. There are sounds in nature too low-pitched to be audible to untrained ears, and the message of the Cross is unheard unless the ears of the deaf are unstopped. If we do not hear Jesus when He speaks of His passion, we may almost as well not hear Him at all.
Moses and Elijah had vanished, having borne their last testimony to Jesus. Peter had wished to keep them beside Jesus, but that could not be. Their highest glory was to fade in His light. They came, they disappeared; He remained-and remains. ‘They saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves.’ So should it be for us in life. So may it be with us in death! ‘Hear Him,’ for all other voices are but for a time, and die into silence, but Jesus speaks for eternity, and ‘His words shall not pass away.’ When time is ended, and the world’s history is all gathered up into its final issue, His name shall stand out alone as Author and End of all.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 The Transfiguration. An Epileptic Healed. Prediction of His Death
The Transfiguration. An Epileptic Healed. Prediction of His Death
2-8. The Transfiguration (Mat_17:1; Luk_9:28). See on Mt.
Read full note →
9-13. A question about Elijah. See on Mat_17:9-13.
14-29. An epileptic healed (Mat_17:14; Luk_9:37). See on Mt.
23. If thou canst believe] RV 'If thou canst! All things,' etc.
29. By prayer and fasting] RV omits 'and fasting,' but the evidence for it is strong.
30-32. Prediction of the Passion (Mat_17:22; Luk_9:43). See on Mt.
33-37. The controversy as to which should be greatest.(Mat_18:1; Luk_9:46). See on Mt.
38-40. The man casting out devils in Christ's name (Luk_9:49). The apostles report that a private Christian, who had not been called to the apostolic office ('he followeth not with us,' Lk), and had received no definite commission from Christ to work miracles, as the apostles had (Mar_3:15), was nevertheless casting out devils in Christ's name. Jealous for the privileges of their newly acquired office, they forbade him, but Christ says that they ought to have welcomed his help. Cp. the history of Eldad and Medad (Num_11:26), where Moses rebukes Joshua for the same jealous attitude. The lesson is that the spiritual gifts of the laity ought to be fully developed and utilised for the good of the Church, and that the clergy ought to welcome and not be jealous of their help.
38. John] The name only in Mark. The fiery temperament of Boanerges here comes out.
39. That can lightly speak evil of me] RV 'and be able quickly to speak evil of me.' The success of the man's ministry proved the genuineness of his faith. If he had been an enemy of Jesus, he could not have worked the miracles: see Act_19:13.
40. For he that is not against us is on our part] Much to be preferred is the more pointed version of Lk, which is also strongly attested here: 'For he that is not against you is for you' (Lk RV). The meaning is, The man, though without your apostolic commission, was doing, and doing successfully, the very same benevolent work that you were doing. You ought, therefore, to have esteemed him a friend and a helper, not an enemy. A jealous and exclusive spirit is unworthy of the ministers of Christ.
41-50. On offences (Mat_18:6; Luk_17:1). See on Mt.
41. See on Mat_10:42.
44, 46. These vv. (which are identical with Mar_9:48) are omitted by the best modern authorities.
48. Where their worm dieth not] Isa_66:24. Literally, the worm is the maggot bred in putrefying substances (Exo_16:20; Isa_14:11; Act_12:23). Figuratively it stands for the moral corruption and degradation which follow upon a long course of wilful sin, and ultimately issue in eternal death. The lost soul, being at length hopelessly corrupt, and loathsome even to itself, has its own hell within it.
49. For every one shall be salted with fire] The conclusion of this v. (and every sacrifice shall be salted with salt) is omitted by the RV, but is too strongly attested to be safely rejected. The saying is a most difficult one, and there are about twenty different interpretations. The probable meaning is, Every believer shall be 'salted,' i.e. purified and prepared for eternity, by the 'fire' of discipline, i.e. by the struggles with the flesh (Mar_9:43), and other afflictions and temptations of this life; and 'every sacrifice,' i.e. every person, who presents himself, his soul, and body, to be a reasonable, holy, and living sacrifice to God, shall be 'salted,' i.e. purified and prepared for eternity, by the salt of divine grace. The 'salt' here is the salt of the new covenant, i.e. the grace which is given to believers in. Christ: see Lev_2:13.
50. Salt is good] 'Divine grace is good, but if the divine grace given to you as Christians dies, owing to your neglect to use it, how will you revive it? Preserve and make due use of the divine grace given to you, especially the grace of charity, and thus you will be at peace with one another.' In Mat_5:13, by an easy transference, the apostles themselves are called 'salt,' as possessing divine grace. Among the ancients salt was an emblem of wisdom and of friendship. To the latter signification our Lord alludes when He says, 'Have peace one with another.'
J. R. Dummelow, A Commentary on the Holy Bible (Macmillan, 1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv1–2 J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [LXX. C. Passion…
J. W. McGarvey's The Fourfold Gospel [LXX. C. Passion Foretold].
LXX. THIRD WITHDRAWAL FROM HEROD'S TERRITORY. Subdivision C. PASSION FORETOLD. PETER REBUKED. aMATT. XVI. 21-28; bMARK VIII. 31-38; IX. 1; cLUKE IX. 22-27.
Read full note →
a21 From that time [i. e., from the time of Peter's confession, and about three-quarters of a year before the crucifixion] began Jesus to show unto his disciples, b31 And to teach them, that the Son of man must suffer many things [Since the apostles, by the mouth of Peter, had just confessed Jesus as Christ, it was necessary that their crude Messianic conceptions should be corrected and that the true Christhood--the Christhood of the atonement and the resurrection--should be revealed to them. In discourse and parable Jesus had explained the principles and the nature of the kingdom, and now, from this time forth, he taught the [414] apostles about himself, the priestly King], athat he must go up to Jerusalem, band be rejected by aand suffer many things of the elders, and bthe chief priests, and the scribes [The Jewish Sanhedrin was generally designated by thus naming the three constituent parts. See Joh_2:19-22, Joh_3:14, Mat_12:38-40), but these had not been understood by either friend or foe. Now that he thus spoke plainly, we may see by Peter's conduct that they comprehended and were deeply moved by the dark and more sorrowful portion of his revelation, and failed to grasp the accompanying promise of a resurrection.] a22 And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall never be unto thee. [Evidently Peter regarded Jesus as overcome by a fit of despondency, and felt that such talk would utterly dishearten the disciples if it were persisted in. His love, therefore, prompted him to lead Jesus to one side and deal plainly with him. In so doing, Peter overstepped the laws of discipleship and assumed that he knew better than the Master what course to pursue. In his feelings he was the forerunner of those modern wiseacres who confess themselves constrained to reject the doctrine of a suffering Messiah.] b33 But he turning about, and seeing his disciples. aturned, brebuked Peter, and saith, asaid unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan: thou art a stumbling-block unto me: for thou mindest not the things of God, but the things that be of men. [Jesus withdrew from Peter and turned back to his disciples. By the confession of the truth Simon had just won his promised name of Peter, which allied him to Christ, the [415] foundation. But when he now turned aside to speak the language of the tempter, Peter receives the name Satan, as if he were the very devil himself. Peter presented the same temptation with which the devil once called forth a similar rebuke from Christ ( Mat_4:10). He was unconsciously trying to dissuade Jesus from the death on which the salvation of the world depended, and this was working into Satan's hand. Peter did not mind or think about the Messiah's kingdom as divinely conceived and revealed in the Scriptures.] b34 And he called unto him the multitude with his disciples, a24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, c23 And he said unto all [despite the efforts of Jesus to seek privacy, the people were still near enough at hand to be called and addressed], If any man would come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily [comp. Rom_8:36, 1Co_15:31] and follow me [For comment, see Luk_12:9, 2Ti_1:8, 2Ti_1:12, 2Ti_2:12] in this adulterous and sinful generation [see pp. 305, 306], the Son of man also shall be ashamed of him cwhen he cometh in his own glory, and the glory of the bhis cFather, and of bwith the holy angels. [Peter had just been ashamed of the words in which Christ pictured himself as undergoing his humiliation. Jesus warns him and all others of the dangers of such shame.] a27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father, with his angels; and then he shall render unto every man according to his deed. [The Father's glory, the angels, and the rendering of universal judgment form a threefold indication that Jesus here speaks of his final coming to judge the world.] b1 And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, c27 But I tell you of a truth, aThere are some of them that stand here, who shall in no wise taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. ctill they see the kingdom of God. bcome with power. [The mention of his final coming suggested one nearer at hand which was to be accomplished during the life of most of those present, since none but Jesus himself and Judas were to die previous to that time. The kingdom was to come and likewise the King. The former coming was literal, the latter spiritual. Those who refer this expression to the transfiguration certainly err, for no visible kingdom was established at that time. The expression refers to the kingdom which was organized and set in motion on the Pentecost which followed the resurrection of Jesus. It was set up with power, because three thousand souls were converted the first day, and many other gospel triumphs speedily followed.] [417]
[FFG 414-417]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1–2 seen Cf. (See Scofield "Mat 17:2") Also, 2Pe 1:16-18
seen Cf. (See Scofield "Mat 17:2") Also, 2Pe 1:16-18
kingdom (See Scofield "Mat 6:33")
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Arno C. Gaebelein 1922 · Public Domain On v1 Chapter 9
Chapter 9
1. The Glory to Come foreshadowed in the Transfiguration. (Mar 9:1-13. Mat 17:1-13; Luk 9:28-36.)
Read full note →
2. The helpless disciples and the secret of failure. (Mar 9:14-29. Mat 17:14-20; Luk 9:37-42)
3. The second announcement of His death. (Mar 9:30-32. Mat 17:22-23; Luk 9:43-45)
4. The self-seeking disciples.(Mar 9:33-37. Mat 18:1-5; Luk 9:46-48)
5. The Servant’s gentleness and tolerance. (Mar 9:38-41. Luk 9:49-50)
6. The solemn warning. (Mar 9:42-50. Mat 18:6-9.)
1. The Glory to Come foreshadowed in the Transfiguration. Mar 9:1-13
The Lord had the transfiguration in mind when He spoke of some standing there and not tasting death. 2Pe 1:16 gives the meaning of the transfiguration as a type and earnest of His Coming into His Kingdom. On that mountain the three disciples saw the Kingdom of God come with power. The Servant appears in Glory. The Saints are represented by Moses and Elias, those who have died and those changed in the twinkling of an eye. The three disciples represented the Saints on earth, when He comes into His Kingdom; the Shekinah cloud was there. And Peter blundered again when he lowered the dignity of the Lord by putting Him alongside of the two Old Testament Servants of God. The Father’s voice is heard once more, vindicating the honor of His Son. What an encouragement the transfiguration must have been for the Servant-Son.
2. The helpless disciples; the secret of their failure. Mar 9:14-29
The whole scene is of greatest importance. The Conditions He finds returning from the mount of transfiguration are typical of the conditions on the earth when He comes again. Here are helpless disciples, triumphant, unbelieving scribes and the manifestation of Satan’s power. All this we cannot follow in detail. Notice the additions in Mark’s account. They had no power to cast out the demon, because they were “faithless.” The Lord told them that lack of prayer and fasting were the causes of their failure. Dependence on God and denial of self are meant. How gracious was the complete deliverance of the afflicted boy. If God’s people knew more of real prayer and real denial of self, there would be a greater manifestation of His power through them.
3. The second announcement of His death. Mar 9:30-32
Passing again through Galilee He announced His death and resurrection the second time. They understood not and were afraid to ask Him. The cross was foreign to them. Other thoughts occupied their hearts.
4. The self-seeking disciples. Mar 9:33-37
And while He who had made of Himself no reputation, who came to be the Servant of all, was looking towards the goal of His earthly ministry, the cross and its shame, they disputed all the way who should be the greatest. Vain glory filled their hearts in expectation of the earthly kingdom for which they waited. They were unable to enter into His thoughts. They were silent because they realized that their dispute was wrong. Then He taught them. The desire of being first shows only fitness to be last. Such a desire reveals nothing but self. Humility must ever be a leading characteristic of the disciple. Then He illustrates it by the small child He took in His arms. Such in dependence, humbleness in mind and confidence, the disciples must be to enjoy His fellowship. With such He can identify Himself.
5. The Servant’s gentleness. Mar 9:38-41
Another form of self appears among the disciples. John would have the Lord rebuke those who used His name effectually and belonged not to their company. It was a narrow sectarianism. Of all the manifestations of self the religious sectarian self, as expressed in exclusivism, rejecting those who do not fellowship with them--is by far the worst, and in the Epistles by the Spirit of God is designated as a work of the flesh. How very offensive it must have been to God’s perfect Servant. Yet what a gentle answer He gives. How we all can learn from Him. The smallest service in doing honor to His name would not be forgotten of God.
6. The Solemn Warning. Mar 9:42-50
The words are for both saint and sinner. We quote from another on this solemn word. “Nevertheless, as regards themselves, all depends on the faithfulness of Christ; and on this account they need to free themselves from all the things which tend to separate from Christ, which led into sin, and bring on apostasy in the heart as well as outward apostasy. God will keep His own, but He will keep them in making them obedient to His Word. Besides this, God puts all to the proof; the fire of His judgment is applied to all, both to saints and sinners. In the saints it consumes the dross, in order that the pure gold may shine in its true lustre; in the case of sinners it is the fire of eternal judgment that is not quenched.
“‘Every sacrifice must be salted with salt’ refers to Lev 2:13. The salt represents the power of the Holy Spirit to keep us from all that is impure and produce holiness in a heart devoted to God, to keep us from all corruption. ‘Have salt in yourselves.’ He wishes us to exercise diligence in order that our souls, in our walk, may be thus sanctified before God, and then manifest it before the world and that we should walk with others in peace.” (J.N. Darby on “Mark.”)
“The burden” where the worm dieth not, and the fire is not quenched, “falls on the conscience stricken like the bell that tolls the felon to his doom. Would that it might kindle our hearts who believe into an unwonted earnestness on behalf of perishing souls!” Many attempts are made to deny the solemn warning in its fearful meaning, but they are eternal truth. The Son of God came from Heaven’s Glory, walked on earth as the Servant and tasted death, yea, forsaken of God on the Cross, to save man from the unquenchable fire.
Arno C. Gaebelein, The Annotated Bible (1913–1922) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On vv1–2 The Transfiguration of Jesus.
The Transfiguration of Jesus.
A solemn statement:
Read full note →
v. 1. And He said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That there be some of them that stand here which shall not taste of death till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power.
These words were probably addressed to His disciples only, or at least spoken of them alone, since they presuppose an intimacy with Jesus which most of the people in that country did not possess. Some of those that were standing there in the circle listening to His words would not taste of death, would not be taken away by death, until they would see the kingdom of God coming, or having come, in power. The day upon which the wrath of God was poured out over Jerusalem is, according to Scriptures, the beginning, the dawn of the great day of God on which He will send Christ in glory, to judge the quick and the dead. The destruction of Jerusalem was not only a type, but actually began the final great judgment of God upon the sinful world that rejected Him and His Son. Several of the disciples of Jesus that heard these words were still alive when the destruction of Jerusalem took place, and thus became witnesses of the way in which the glorified Christ repays, punishes, those that have despised His Word and His grace. So the words of Christ in this instance were both a prediction and a promise.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On v1 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Jesus has just been talking to the people and his disciples about following him. Six days later, Jesus goes with three of his disciples up a mountain where his appearance temporarily changes to what he will look like one day in the kingdom of God.
Read full note →
He said to them
"Jesus said to his disciples"
the kingdom of God come with power
The kingdom of God coming represents God showing himself as king. AT: "God show himself with great power as king" (See: Metonymy)
alone by themselves
The author uses the reflexive pronoun "themselves" here to emphasize that they were alone and that only Jesus, Peter, James, and John went up the mountain. (See: Reflexive Pronouns)
he was transfigured before them
When they looked at him, his appearance was different from what it had been.
he was transfigured
This can be stated in active form. AT: "his appearance had changed" or "he appeared very different" (See: Active or Passive)
before them
"in front of them" or "so they could clearly him"
radiantly brilliant
"shining" or "glowing." Jesus' garments were so white they were emitting or giving off light.
extremely
as much as possible or more than most
whiter than any bleacher on earth could bleach them
Bleaching describes the process of making natural white wool even whiter by using chemicals like bleach or ammonia. AT: "whiter than any person on earth could whiten them"
translationWords
amen
kingdom of God
Jesus
Peter
James (brother of Jesus)
John (the apostle)
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1–2 9:1 The introductory I tell you the truth indicates…
9:1 The introductory I tell you the truth indicates that the promise in this verse is important, but the meaning of the promise is much debated. It might suggest that some of the disciples will (1) witness Jesus’ resurrection from the dead (ch 16); (2) experience the coming of the Spirit upon the church (Acts 2); (3) see the fall of Jerusalem in AD 70; or (4) witness Jesus’ transfiguration as a foretaste of God’s coming Kingdom. Mark’s placement of the promise right before the transfiguration account (Mark 9:2-8) indicates that he probably meant the transfiguration as the fulfillment (see 2 Pet 1:16-18).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.