21 And he strictly charged and commanded them to tell this to no one, 22 saying, “The Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised.”
Take Up Your Cross and Follow Jesus
23 And he said to all, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me. 24 For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it. 25 For what does it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses or forfeits himself? 26 For whoever is ashamed of me and of my words, of him will the Son of Man be ashamed when he comes in his glory and the glory of the Father and of the holy angels. 27 But I tell you truly, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God.”
The Transfiguration
28 Now about eight days after these sayings he took with him Peter and John and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 29 And as he was praying, the appearance of his face was altered, and his clothing became dazzling white. 30 And behold, two men were talking with him, Moses and Elijah, 31 who appeared in glory and spoke of his departure, which he was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. 32 Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake they saw his glory and the two men who stood with him. 33 And as the men were parting from him, Peter said to Jesus, “Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah”—not knowing what he said. 34 As he was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. 35 And a voice came out of the cloud, saying, “This is my Son, my Chosen One; listen to him!” 36 And when the voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen. Luke 9: 21-36 ESV
Luke 9: 21-36
And He strictly charged - Peter had just referred to Him as the Christ of God, acknowledging Him as the Messiah. He has preached the Kingdom, and the anticipation of the disciples is high, so now Jesus commands them to tell no one, and then gives them the reason which comes in a sequence of events.
The Son of Man must suffer many things - Like the prophets before Him, like Isaiah who was killed by Manasseh, like Jeremiah who preached to harden hearts and was hated by his countrymen, so Jesus has come as the suffering Servant of the Lord.
13Behold, My Servant will prosper; He will be raised and lifted up and highly exalted. 14Just as many were appalled at Him— His appearance was disfigured beyond that of any man, and His form was marred beyond human likeness — 15so He will sprinkle many nations. Kings will shut their mouths because of Him. For they will see what they have not been told, and they will understand what they have not heard.… Isaiah 52: 13-15
Be rejected by the elders and chief priests and scribes - Even in His home town where they knew Him to be a righteous man, they called Him a blasphemer and tried to throw him off a cliff. He is the Messiah, but the sequence of events requires Him to take the cross before the thrown. He is the Passover Lamb, that sacrificial system was all about Him. The elders have the books of the prophets, they know what Isaiah said, but they still reject Him, just like Isaiah said they would.
1Who has believed our message? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 2He grew up before Him like a tender shoot, and like a root out of dry ground. He had no stately form or majesty to attract us, no beauty that we should desire Him. 3He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows, acquainted with grief. Like one from whom men hide their faces, He was despised, and we esteemed Him not.… Isaiah 53: 1-3
And be killed - He is the Lamb of God, the One without spot, and He is the only Way by which men can be saved. His whole life here has been looking forward to that day.
…4Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted. 5But He was pierced for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. 6We all like sheep have gone astray, each one has turned to his own way; and the LORD has laid upon Him the iniquity of us all.… Isaiah 53: 4-6
…4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins. 5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, He said: “Sacrifice and offering You did not desire, but a body You prepared for Me. 6In burnt offerings and sin offerings You took no delight.… Hebrews 10: 4-6
If anyone would come after Me - Here He is talking about discipleship, not just the hearing and learning, but actually following in the footsteps of the Master.
Let him deny himself and take up his cross daily and follow me - This is what it looks like, this is the cost, not that you have paid anything, because you really don't have anything to pay with, so you give everything, which is your sinful life. Who you thought you were, what you thought was important, what you thought belonged to you, is all rubbish now, nothing, and you exchange your ideals for His, your honor is now that Christ be glorified. There isn't a deeper call to repentance than this, there is no greater knowledge, to resist this is to reject the gospel. Are you your maker, how about the things that are under your care? Did you create them? This is a complete 180, and a new creature is the one now walking in the opposite direction, carefully tracing the steps of his Lord, and his name must now be called, Christian. The people He is talking to have all seen the horrors of Roman crucifixion, and so imagine the power required to accept this invitation.
Let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily: Jesus made deny himself equal with take up his cross. The two phrases expressed the same idea. The cross wasn’t about self-promotion or self-affirmation. The person carrying a cross knew they couldn’t save themselves, and that self was destined to die.
i. Denying yourself means to live as an others-centered person. Jesus was the only person to do this perfectly, but we are to follow in His steps.
d. Take up his cross daily: Jesus made it clear that He spoke spiritually when He added the word daily. No one could be crucified literally everyday. Daily they could have the same attitude as Jesus had.
i. This is following Jesus at its simplest. He carried a cross, so His followers carry one. He walked to His self-death, so must those who would follow Him. - E Word
7But whatever was gain to me I count as loss for the sake of Christ. 8More than that, I count all things as loss compared to the surpassing excellence of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ 9and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God on the basis of faith.… Philippians 3: 7-9
Now eight days after these sayings - He just said, "there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God." He also spoke about those who are ashamed of Him and His words, and about His second coming, "coming in His glory, and the glory of His Father and of the holy angels."
Took with Him Peter and John and James - These were His core group, the leaders. Much like the ministries of Isaiah, Ezekiel, Jeremiah, Daniel and Elijah, these will receive a vision of coming glory, the light that shines into the darkest hours of their ministries. Again, Jesus has preached the Kingdom, and He has sent the disciples out to preach the Kingdom. He has done countless miracles that prove that He is God and that nature responds to His voice. He has the power to call it back from it's present state of entropy. John will later see visions of Christ while on the island of Patmos, where he will pen the book of Revelation.
The appearance of His face was altered, and His clothing became dazzling white - Who Jesus was on the inside, where it says the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, that Shekinah glory came shining through.
13 and in the middle of the lampstands I saw one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and wrapped around the chest with a golden sash. 14 His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire. 15 His feet were like burnished bronze when it has been heated to a glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters. 16 In His right hand He held seven stars, and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength. Revelation 1: 13-16
The appearance (eidos) of His face became different (heteros), and His clothing became white (leukos) and gleaming (exastrapto) - Luke's description is what both Matthew 17:2 and Mark 9:2 describe with the Greek verb "transfigured." This verb is also used of believers who are being transformed (2 Cor 3:18+, Romans 12:2+). This reminds us of Moses' face shining with a bright light when he received the tablets of the Law (Ex. 34:29-35).
Transfigured (Mt 17:2, Mk 9:2)(3339)(metamorphoo from metá = denotes change of place or condition + morphoo = to form from morphe = form, shape referring to the essential form of a thing) describes a change in appearance that comes from within. It has the basic meaning of changing into another form and is the term from which we get metamorphosis, which in biology denotes the amazing change of a lowly caterpillar into a beautiful butterfly. So the change in view here is not a superficial fluctuation, but a vital change revealing a new life (when used of believers. When metamorphoo describes Jesus' transfiguration the word indicates that His glory shone through His garments so that what Jesus really was on the inside was made manifest on the outside to Peter, John and James (Mt 17:2, Mk 9:2) Wiersbe says "transfigured describes a change on the outside that comes from the inside. It is the opposite of ‘masquerade,’ which is an outward change that does not come from within.” - Precept Austin
Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His departure - Jesus has spoken of the Kingdom and the afterlife, and remember there were sects of liberal Jews who taught there was no afterlife, no raising of the dead. Here we find Moses, the giver of God's law, and Elijah, the greatest of the OT prophets, both alive. There were also those, like Herod, who thought that Jesus may be a reincarnate John the Baptist, or some said Elijah, yet unlike Peter Parker and Spiderman, we see John baptize Jesus early on, and unlike Clark Kent and Superman, we see Jesus and Elijah standing here together at the same time, and all appearing in glorified, yet recognizable form.
John MacArthur - Why Moses and Elijah? Well I thought about this and I thought, well, if I could go back to the Old Testament and think of which two characters most prominent in the Old Testament had unusual demises, or unusual exits out of this world, the first two that come to my mind are Moses and Elijah. Most people, they died and he was buried with his fathers, right? You go through Genesis, he died and he was buried, he died and he was buried. You know, it's kind of a routine thing. It's still going on, obviously, but not Moses and Elijah. Moses had a very unusual death and his body was never found. His body was never found because there was a battle over his body between Satan and Michael and they were fighting over the body of Moses. Satan wanted to do something really bad with the body of Moses. We don't know what because he didn't succeed. They were contending for the body of Moses and it tells us in Deuteronomy 34:6 that God just took his body and buried it Himself. Nobody knows where. So somebody could raise the question: Well what happened to Moses? We're not sure what happened to Moses? Well good news, he's over there on the other side. You may not be able to find his body, you may wonder about where it is and why he disappeared in such a strange way, but the good news is he's over there because here he is appearing on the other side. And Elijah, do you remember what happened to him? He didn't die. He had a private rapture. He went to heaven in a chariot of fire (2 Kings 2:11) So that's the second person who had the sort of strange exodus. And so here is Moses who had a strange exodus and here is Elijah who had a strange exodus and they're talking with Jesus about His exodus. (Luke 9:26-31 A Glimpse of the King's Return, Part 1) - J Mac from Precept Austin
This is My Chosen One, listen to Him - God puts it back into perspective for the boys. Peter only means good, but it is still wrong, and Moses and Elijah are not on the same level as Jesus. I think that the disciples Messianic hopes were still right now, let's do this now, let's kick at Rome and set up the Kingdom now. He probably wanted to keep the moment going, to set up a tent for Elijah and Moses to hang with them now. He still has a lot to learn, especially the part they are blocking out, that Messiah has to die just like the prophets foretold.
15The LORD your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers. You must listen to him. 16This is what you asked of the LORD your God at Horeb on the day of the assembly, when you said, “Let us not hear the voice of the LORD our God or see this great fire anymore, so that we will not die!”… Deuteronomy 18: 15-16
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