A Glimpse Of The Future

The appearance of his face was transformed, and his clothes became dazzling white.   Luke 9:29

Eight days after describing the suffering he would endure, Jesus took Peter, James, and John and went on a prayer retreat. They climbed a mountain together, and when they arrived at the top, Jesus gave these discouraged men a glimpse of the future.

As Jesus prayed, his appearance changed so that the disciples saw him as he would appear in the future. His face shone and his clothing dazzled. Jesus was showing his disciples the glory he would enter after his death and resurrection.

An awesome brilliance radiated from him, and it is clear that the disciples were at the limits of language to describe how he looked, saying that Jesus’ clothes appeared “far whiter than any earthly bleach could ever make them” (Mark 9:3).

This is remarkably similar to the description John gave when he saw the glory of the risen Christ, whose face was “like the sun in all its brilliance” (Revelation 1:16). In his vision, John saw the same glory that Jesus revealed on the top of the mountain.

The Transfiguration revealed the glory that lay beyond the cross. There would be pain and suffering in Jerusalem, but Jesus wanted the disciples to see where the story would end. They would see Jesus die, but that would not be the end of the story.

When Christ leads you on a painful path, you need to know where the story will end. You do not serve a weak or ailing Christ who is unable to stop the tide of secularism and pluralism in our world. You serve the risen Lord, who sovereignly moves history forward toward its climax, when his own glory will be revealed.

So when you hear the world say, “We will not have this man to rule over us” or you find that his work seems to be set back, remember that history is moving toward the day when Jesus Christ will appear in glory. Through all the suffering and darkness of this world, God is moving toward the moment when his Son will be revealed and every person who has ever lived will see his glory.

For further reading, see Revelation 1