The Transfiguration and its Teachings
Dean Goulburn. Mark 9:1-10 And he said to them, Truly I say to you, That there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death… 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. God's 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 God's 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 sinner's 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 Saviour's 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 King's 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 Master's 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 God's presence, yet it is God's 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 Lord's will that we shall execute as His appointed task. Genuine apprehensions of Christ's 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.) Parallel Verses KJV: 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. WEB: He said to them, "Most certainly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste death until they see the Kingdom of God come with power."