The transfiguration, or a glimpse of Jesus' future glory, is described in Matthew 17. Jesus was accompanied on a journey up a high mountain by three of his disciples: Peter, James, and John the brother of James. *Mount Tabor is the place usually described as the "high mountain," but rises to only about 1900 feet. A more likely mountain would be Mount Hermon, which rises to 9232 feet. If they ascended to the top, however, it would be very cold. *Luke explains that they descended the next day, and the top of Mount Hermon would be a very chilly place to spend the night. Luke also mentions that upon their descent from the mountain, Jesus and his three disciples were immediately met by a crowd that included teachers of the law. It would seem that Mount Hermon would be an unlikely place, because of the fact that it was in Gentile territory, so Mount Tabor seems to be the more likely place described in this passage.

Verse 2 says that when Jesus was transfigured, his face shone and his clothes became as white as the light. The picture here is not just of someone in spotless white garments. His clothes were actually glowing brightly. At that point, Moses and Elijah appeared and began talking with Jesus. It would have certainly been interesting to know what they were discussing, but the text did not record that for us. Even though Moses was told in the desert that he would not enter the Promised Land, in a sense he did reach the Promised Land more than 1200 years later when Jesus was transfigured. The writer has been to the top of Mount Nebo, which is the mountain upon which Moses stood when he got to view the Promised Land from the country of Moab. The ancient country of Moab is in modern day Jordan.

There seems to be some symbolism behind the fact that Moses and Elijah were the ones who visited Jesus on the mountain. At that time, Scripture was referred to as "the Law and the Prophets." Scripture was comprised only of the Old Testament, because the New Testament had not yet been written. Moses was the one who received the Law from God in the wilderness, which is the reason it is referred to as the Mosaic Law. Elijah was one of the most famous prophets, and arguably the most famous prophet, in Israelite history. Jesus was the only person who fulfilled the Law by keeping it completely. He was also the one of whom the prophets spoke, centuries before. He fulfilled both the Law and the Prophets, which were always intended to point forward to Jesus. So the meeting with Moses and Elijah would illustrate this fact.

*Moses’ face had shone when he met with God in the wilderness centuries earlier, but that was a reflection of God's glory. It could also be argued that it symbolized the change that takes place in us, or should take place in us, when we meet with God. There is no hint in the Biblical account, however, that the description of Moses' face shining was a figure of speech. Scripture records that Moses wore a veil to cover his shining face when he was with his people but removed the veil when he met with God. *Jesus, however, was transfigured. The Greek word metamorphoo, which can mean "to transfigure, transform or change in form," suggests a change of inmost nature that may be outwardly visible. This is much different than someone's face reflecting God's glory.

In verse 4, Peter offers to set up shelters for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. *There is some sense here that Peter is offering to build tabernacles for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Tabernacles were where people met with God before the Temple of Jerusalem was built. He is clearly very affected by what he is witnessing on the mountain. *There is some hint that this alludes to the Feast of Tabernacles, during which people would set up shelters and live in them for seven days. Since the disciples were expecting Jesus to set up a kingdom on earth during his first coming, it is very possible that they thought they were witnessing the establishment of Jesus' rule on earth.

Verse 5 says that while Peter was still speaking, a bright cloud enveloped them and a voice came from the cloud. That would have been a very unusual sight. It can be an awesome sight to see a cloud with rays of sunlight poking down through them, but when was the last time you actually heard a voice coming out of the cloud, too? *The "cloud" is associated, in both the Old Testament and intertestamental Judaism, with end times prophecy. The description of a bright cloud also hints at a display of God's glory. The voice coming from the cloud, which was obviously God's voice, said, "This is my Son, whom I love; with him I am well pleased. Listen to him!"

Our prayers need to be a dialogue with God. We can and should feel free to talk to God about whatever is on our minds. We should be pleading with God on behalf of others, praising him and thanking him. But we also need to leave room for God to speak with us, as well. That can be through God's still, small voice or through the words recorded in Scripture. It can also be a timely word from a friend, a pastor, or something in a book. It is interesting, in the midst of this spectacular transfiguration of Jesus, that God's command to the disciples is for them to listen to Jesus.

This was understandably a frightening experience for the disciples. Verse 6 says that they fell face down to the ground, terrified. But then Jesus came and touched them. He told them to get up and not to be afraid. When they looked up, they saw no one except Jesus. This removed any doubt about who is the Son of God. *God unmistakably confirmed the disciples' conviction that Jesus is the Messiah.

Jesus then instructed them not to tell anyone what they had seen until after Jesus had risen from the dead. That could easily have been a confusing statement for the disciples. They could very well have thought they just witnessed in inauguration of Jesus' kingdom on earth, and yet Jesus was referring to himself rising from the dead. *The reason they were told not to tell anyone of what they saw was because it would be much better understood following Jesus' resurrection.

In verse 10, the disciples asked why the teachers of the law say that Elijah must come first. *Elijah was to institute a state of justice and true worship. How were they to reconcile the restoration of justice and true worship with a Messiah who would die, especially if the restoration of all things came first? There may have been confusion about the chronological order of these events, and it certainly defied their concept of how the Messiah would accomplish all this. It would have been difficult to understand Jesus' death as a tremendous victory.

Jesus then explained to them that it is true that Elijah would restore all things. He explained to them that Elijah had already come, but he had not been recognized as such. The Pharisees and teachers of the law had done everything to him that they wished, and Herod Antipas even had him beheaded. Jesus said he would likewise suffer at the hands of these same groups of people. At that point, the disciples understood that Jesus was talking about John the Baptist.

It needs to be pointed out that John the Baptist was referred to as Elijah in the sense that he had the same mission of pointing the people of Israel back to God. He was to pave the way for Jesus. This should by no means be twisted to say that John the Baptist was a reincarnation of Elijah. Hebrews 9:27 says that man is destined to die once and then to face judgment. Any teaching of reincarnation is both inconsistent and incompatible with Scripture.

*= from the Expositor's Bible Commentary