After The Mountaintop

After the Mountaintop

Matthew 17:8-13, NKJV

When they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. 9Now as they came down from the mountain, Jesus commanded them, saying, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.” 10And His disciples asked Him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” 11Jesus answered and said to them, “Indeed, Elijah is coming first and will restore all things. 12But I say to you that Elijah has come already, and they did not know him but did to him whatever they wished. Likewise the Son of Man is also about to suffer at their hands.” 13Then the disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist.

Setting the Scene

When the journey of life takes us to the mountaintop, we can be sure the pathway will also lead us down the other side. The disciples may have wished for a few moments to stay at the top, but life was waiting down in the valley.

As they picked their way down the path, Jesus told them, “Tell the vision to no one until the Son of Man is risen from the dead.” As the Gospel writers put this account to paper, they were carrying out Jesus’ command. However, the disciples seem to have missed the implication of Jesus’ statement. If he was going to rise from the dead, he was going to have to die first. They were still not comfortable with that idea, so they deflected with a more immediate question: “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must come first?” They had just seen Jesus talking with Elijah, so they were trying to work out the sequence of events.

Jesus responded with a double reference to Elijah. This is a classic example of the big picture/little picture aspects of prophecy. The big picture is, “Elijah is coming first and will restore all things”; the little, immediate picture is, “Elijah has come already.” The prophetic Elijah-like voice of John the Baptist had been heard and rejected. John had fulfilled his role as the forerunner of the Messiah who would himself be rejected in the process of obtaining salvation.

The Transfiguration was over, but transformation was continuing. The disciples were descending into the world where God’s glory was not as easy to see as on the mountaintop but where God’s work went on in people.

Getting Personal

When was your last mountaintop experience?

How has that high point affected your response to the flatland or the valley today?

Coming down from a mountaintop is often more an experience of loss than a realization of refreshment and resources for life in the lowlands. The mountaintops let us see transformation, but daily living allows transformation to take root and be seen by others.

Talking to God

Say thank you again for the hope of promised transformation—gradual and persistent in this life and gloriously complete in the next. Thank God for his leading, during spiritual high points and during everyday experiences of obedience.