Matthew 17:1-23

28 See 2Pe_1:16-18.

28 This prediction was fulfilled about a week later when He took His most intimate disciples with Him and they saw His power and presence and were spectators of His magnificence (2Pe_1:16). It is fitting that, at this juncture, there should be some plain intimation of the postponement of the kingdom. In the record the promise is immediately followed by its fulfillment, but there is a week's delay. Another cycle must run its course before the proper conditions reappear which precede the kingdom.

1-9 Compare Mar_9:2-10 Luk_9:28-36.

1 This was not merely a transfiguration but a transformation. Satan is, at present, transfigured into a messenger of light (2Co_11:14). We should be transformed by the renewing of our minds (Rom_12:2). Transfiguration deals with the temporary fashion. Transformation is the permanent appearance. The Lord's flesh was a veil or curtain, which hid His innate splendor. On the mount, the glory shone out so that it became visible to mortal eyes.

3 The mystery concerning Moses' body and the translation of Elijah explains their presence hero. While this is a glorious kingdom scene, it is also a preparation for the “exodus” which He was about to complete at Jerusalem (Luk_9:31). The scene was glory but the theme was shame. So we do not see David on the holy mountain, but Moses, the great mediator, who led the exodus out of Egypt, and who wrote so much concerning His sacrifice, and we see Elijah, the premier prophet, who must come ere the kingdom is accomplished fact. These men sympathized with the sufferings which were before Him, but Peter has not yet learned the lesson. He wished to make this a permanent display and thus avoid the cross. But he foolishly places Moses and Elijah in the same class with our Lord. Just as Israel's unbelief dispelled the hope of the kingdom, so now his words draw down a cloud and the glory vanishes.

5 See Mar_1:11; 2Pe_1:16-18; Isa_42:1.

9 Even during our Lord's ministry the kingdom could not be proclaimed because He had been rejected. He has once more been rejected by the nation, recorded in the book of Acts, hence the kingdom proclamation is once mere abeyance.

10 Though John the baptist was not Elijah, who will probably be one of the two witnesses at the time of the end (Rev_11:3-12), he came in the spirit and power of Elijah (Luk_1:17), and could have performed his mission if the people had been ready to receive him.

11 See Luk_1:16-17; Act_3:21.

12-13 See Mat_14:3-10; Mat_11:14.

12 John the baptist came in the spirit and power of Elijah, but without his mighty deeds. He did not call down fire on his enemies nor lock heaven as Elijah did (1Ki_17:1) and as he will do again when he reappears as one of the two witnesses (Rev_11:6). The prophetic testimony closes with the prediction that he must reappear “before the great and fearful day of Jehovah comes” (Mal_4:5).

14-18 Compare Mar_9:14-27 ' Luk_9:37-42.

16 Intimations abound in this period our Lord's ministry which point to a temporary failure of the kingdom testimony. When the disciples were left alone with epileptic Israel, in the Pentecostal era, they found it impossible to cure them, for lack of faith. The cure will not be effected until His return. If they had had a modicum of faith they could readily have removed the mountain of Roman supremacy far from them and put in its place the mountain of Jehovah. All the future fortunes of the kingdom were known to God, and, in His inimitable way, He is giving us a foreview of its history in the vale of unbelief, as well as a glimpse of its glory on the mountain top. These hidden hints, conveyed by His acts as well as by His words, are full of delightful food for reflection, and glorify the failures that follow.

19-21 Compare Mar_9:28-29.

20 See Mat_21:21; Luk_17:5; Luk_17:-6; 1Co_12:9; 1Co_13:2.

22-23 Compare Mar_9:30-32; Luk_9:43-45.

22 The gloomy shadow of the cross lies athwart the pathway of our Lord throughout the second period of His ministry. More than that, His disciples were blind to it. As the Jews did not understand or accept Him as their King, so now His disciples refuse to entertain the revelation of Himself as their Priest and Sacrifice. So today His own saints turn from Him as the Saviour and seek to press His kingship, which is in abeyance.