“Facts from the Transfiguration”


BIBLE READING: Matthew 17
DISCUSSION                                             
Matthew 17:1-8
The Transfiguration of Christ is possibly one of the most significant happenings of His life or in the lives of His disciples.  There are at least five facts that come from this event.
            1.  The Old Covenant was about to be replaced by the New Covenant.  Moses and Elijah were present with Jesus, but God said to hear to Jesus.  These Old Testament figures represented the Law and the Prophets, yet Jesus was the key figure.
            2.  We don't cease to exist when we die.  Moses and Elijah had long been dead, but here they were.  Death is a transitional state from the physical to the spiritual.  Physical death is a separation of the soul from the body.  Spiritual death is a separation of the soul from God.
            3.   We don't lose our identity at death.  How Peter, James, and John were able to identify Moses and Elijah is not known.  It is for sure that Moses was still Moses and Elijah was still Elijah.
            4.  Christ is the object of our worship.  As great as Moses and Elijah were, they were not equal to Christ.  They were human, while Christ is divine.  No one in the Bible was ever condemned because they worshipped Jesus.
            5.   Christ is God's spokesman for today.  Moses was God's spokesman to Israel before they entered the Promised Land (Exodus 3 & 4).  Elijah, considered to be the greatest of the oral prophets, was God's spokesman to Judah and Israel.  God's declaration on the Mount proves that only Jesus is God's spokesman to the age in which we live.  No person today has been given the authority to speak for God or to speak modern day revelations.
             

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