Mark 9:1-8 – Jesus, the Priest, Prophet and King

In reading verse 1, many must be puzzled by what the Lord had said. He had predicted that some of His disciples present with Him then, would not see death till they see the coming of the Kingdom of God in power. Many conclude that Christ was talking about the time of His second coming. They become disenchanted because all His disciples had died and Christ has not yet come. So how do we reconcile what Jesus had said with what was happening? From the account given in verses 2-8 about His transfiguration, we can safely conclude that Jesus was referring to this event as “the Kingdom coming in power”. He was not talking about His second coming. The likely reason for the Lord’s transfiguration was to encourage His disciples, since He had announced His suffering and death. Now He wanted to strengthen their faith.

Six days after the Lord had made this prediction, He took Peter, James and John up to the mountain. This was probably Mount Hermon. And before their eyes they saw four very dramatic manifestations. Firstly, the Lord Jesus was spectacularly transformed before them. Matthew, in the similar account, said that His face began to shine. It was probably more brilliant than the sun. Here we are told that His garment became exceptionally white. The whole idea is to show that He is the glorious Lord.  

Secondly, they had two heavenly visitors – Moses and Elijah. One representing the Law and the other, the Prophets. What’s amazing is that they needed no introduction. Peter, James and John could recognize them immediately. Interestingly, we also know that these two people entered heaven in different ways, Moses via the way of death and Elijah via the way of the rapture.  Perhaps God is indicting that some of us will enter heaven through the River Jordan experience, and some of us may have the privilege of through the rapture without going through death. Even in this account, God was being gracious to Moses. He finally entered the promise land. He did not enter in while he led the children of Israel in the wilderness. Now at last, his feet touched the land of promise. Verse 4 tells us that Moses and Elijah talked to the Lord. It would be interesting to know what they talked about. Perhaps they were discussing about Christ’s impending death and His glorious resurrection. 

Thirdly, was the proposal Peter made. Peter wanted to capture the experience forever. He proposed to build three booths, one for Moses, one for Elijah and one for the Lord Jesus. Perhaps Peter wanted to make the mountain their operational HQ to take the world. This shows how capable we are of disrupting God’s plan with what we think are clever ideas. We must learn to identify God’s moment and work it for His glory.

Finally, there was this dramatic overcast of shadow that came over them and God’s voice explicitly announced from heaven, “This is My beloved Son, listen to Him!” It was a correction to Peter’s foolish suggestion. We must not be like Peter who put the Lord Jesus into the same class as Moses and Elijah. They are both in a different class from our Lord. We are looking at God’s own beloved Son. Moses represented the priesthood and Elijah, the prophets. But Jesus is the precious Son of God. He is our Priest, Prophet and King put together. He is the ultimate expression of truth.

Can any call to listen to our Lord be any clearer? This is God Himself instructing us. Like the instruction given to the three privileged disciples on the mountain top, God is saying to us “Listen to Him.”  Let us make it our holy ambition and habit to sit still before Him each day and truly listen to Him. Let’s also personalize the desire of John Owen when he said in his hymn to the Lord:

Jesus, my Shepherd, Savior, Friend,

O Prophet, Priest and King,

My Lord, my Life, my Way, my End

Accept the praise I bring.