The King is transfigured
17
📚And after six days Jesus took Peter, James, and John his brother, and led them up into a high mountain by themselves,17:1 This high mountain was probably Mt Hermon.⚜
2 📚and was transfigured in their presence. And his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became as white as the light.
17:2 The disciples were given a brief sight of Christ's glory (Mark 9:23; Luke 9:28-29; John 1:14; 1 Pet 1:16-18. Compare Rev 1:14-16). This was evidence that Christ would fulfill the promise of Matt 16:27. The word “transfigured” means a change in the outer form or appearance that comes from within. Compare Rom 12:2; 2 Cor 3:18 where the same word is used.⚜
3 📚And suddenly Moses and Elijah appeared to them, talking with him.
17:3 Moses represented the law, the old covenant with its types and pictures of salvation. Elijah represented the prophets with their visions and promises of the kingdom of God. Moses died about 1400 years before this event. Elijah ascended to heaven nearly 900 years before it. Their appearance here demonstrates the Bible's teaching that people survive after death. We know from Luke 9:31 what Moses and Elijah talked about with Jesus – His death.⚜
4 📚Then Peter, responding, said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here. If you are willing, let us make three tabernacles here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah”.
17:4 Probably Peter's idea was to prolong the blessed experience on the mountain, to spend as much time as possible there in glory, away from the work, the strains, the problems of life on the plain. But see Mark 9:6. Once again he was minding the things of men (Matt 16:23). If Jesus had stayed on the mountain there would have been no salvation for men.⚜
5 📚While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud covered them in shadow, and then a voice from the cloud said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased. Listen to him”.
17:5 See references to “cloud” at Acts 1:9. Here God the Father magnifies the Lord Jesus above Moses and Elijah, and so above all the great men of the Old Testament or any whoever lived. Jesus was the unique Son of God. See Matt 3:17. The eternal living God, the Creator of the universe, tells us to pay the utmost attention to the words spoken by Jesus and recorded in the Bible. Of all whoever spoke Jesus is most worthy of these words – “Listen to Him”. Compare John 7:16-17; 12:49-50; Heb 1:1-2. The quality of our life on earth and our whole eternity is dependent on whether we listen to Him – John 10:3, 16, 27; Acts 3:23. Sad it is that many men listen to other men but refuse to hear the voice of God's only Son.⚜
6 📚And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were very frightened.
7 📚And Jesus came and touched them and said, “Get up and do not be frightened”.
8 📚And when they had raised their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus alone.
17:8 What here happened to them literally should happen to us spiritually. When the sun rises the stars fade from view. One glimpse of Him and anyone else whoever lived must take a lesser place.⚜
The King speaks of Elijah and John the Baptist
9 📚And as they were coming down from the mountain, Jesus gave them an order, saying, “Do not tell the vision to anyone until the Son of man has risen from the dead”.
17:9 The time to declare all the truth about the Lord Jesus had not yet come, but it would come later.⚜
10 📚And his disciples asked him, saying, “Why then do the scribes say that Elijah must first come 📖?”
11 📚And Jesus answered and said to them, “Elijah indeed comes first and restores all things.
17:11 This seems to be an assertion that Mal 4:5-6 will be fulfilled in the future, that Elijah will come before the day of the Lord – a day which has not come even yet. Note at 1 Thess 5:2; 2 Pet 3:10.⚜
12 📚But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they wished. In the same way the Son of man also will suffer at their hands”.
13 📚Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them about John 📖 the Baptist.
The King heals a boy and teaches about prayer and driving out demons
14 📚And when they came to the crowd, a man came up to him, knelt down to him and said, 15 📚“Lord, have mercy on my son. For he is a lunatic 📖, and suffers miserably. For he often falls in the fire, and often in the water. 16 📚And I brought him to your disciples, but they could not cure him”.
17 📚Then Jesus answered and said, “Faithless and perverse generation! How long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him here to me”.
17:17 That “faithless and perverse” generation was one of the worst in Israel's long history – Matt 12:39; 23:33-36; Acts 2:40. This verse gives an indication that all the time Jesus spent on earth He suffered from the unbelief and disobedience of people. It was pain that brought to His lips the words “how long”. Do we continue to give Him pain for the same reason?⚜
18 📚And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it went out of him. And the child was cured from that very time.
19 📚Then the disciples came to Jesus privately, and said, “Why could we not drive it out?”
20 📚And Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief 📖 . For truly I say to you, if you have faith as much as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’, and it will move, and nothing will be impossible to you. 21 However this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting”.
17:19-21 Verse 17; Matt 6:30; 8:26; 14:31. Jesus had given them authority to drive out demons (Matt 10:1). Now, perhaps, for the first time they had tried and failed. It seems the reason was this: they did not have the same faith in Christ and His words as they had on former occasions. Perhaps this time they depended on a mere formula, or even on themselves (after God has enabled us to do something it is possible for us to begin thinking that we can do it without Him). Not all demons are alike. It seems some are stronger and more determined than others, and casting such out requires a stronger faith than is usually the case. Prayer and fasting can be aids to faith. This illustration of the mountain shows the great power of faith. Actually it is not literal mountains that need to be moved, but obstacles and difficulties which are like mountains. And these will all yield when faith is strong enough. See also Mark 11:24; Rom 4:19-21; Heb 11.⚜
The King foretells His death
22 📚And while they were staying in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of man will be betrayed into the hands of men, 23 📚and they will kill him, and the third day he will be raised”. And they were plunged into deep sadness.
17:22-23 See Matt 16:21. They did not understand His words, but realized that something terrible was going to happen. They did not know what His resurrection from the dead would mean (Mark 9:10, 32; Luke 18:34). God's people sometimes grieve about something they could rejoice in if their understanding was better. See at Gen 50:20 an illustration of rejoicing instead of grieving.⚜
The King teaches about taxes
24 📚And when they came to Capernaum, those who collected the temple tax came to Peter and said, “Doesn't your teacher pay the temple tax?”
25 📚He said, “Yes”. And when he had come into the house, Jesus was the first to speak, “What do you think, Simon? From whom do the kings of the earth take customs or taxes? From their own children, or from foreigners?”
17:25 Collecting taxes from conquered peoples was the practice in the Roman Empire. Roman citizens did not have to pay.⚜
26 Peter said to him, “From foreigners”. Jesus said to him, “Then the children are exempt.
17:26 Christ was the Son of God and greater than the temple (Matt 12:6). There was no obligation for Him (or for His followers) to pay the temple tax. The children of God are free, and their giving to religious institutions should be voluntary. See 2 Cor 9:7. They are not to be in bondage to the law of Moses or to man-made rules (Gal 5:1, 13). Of course these verses have nothing to do with the obligation of Christians to pay taxes to their government. See Rom 13:5-7.⚜
27 📚But so we will not be a stumbling block to them, go to the lake, put in a hook, and take the first fish that comes up. And when you have opened its mouth, you will find a piece of money. Take that and give it to them for me and you”.
17:27 Here is another important principle for the children of God. They must not use their freedom in such a careless way that others are unnecessarily offended (Rom 14:13, 15, 19-21). It would seem from this verse that neither Jesus nor Peter had the money on hand for this tax. The total for both was the equivalent of about four days wages for a laborer. The Lord Jesus voluntarily lived His life in poverty (Matt 8:20).
In this event see how God can control everything to meet His people's needs. Someone had once dropped a coin into the lake (or, for all we know, God created one at this moment). God caused the fish to get the coin in its mouth and come to the very place where Peter would throw out his line (compare Jonah 1:17; 2:10).
To meet the needs of His people God can use many ways, including miraculous ones. See also 1 Kings 17:4, 9. The whole world is at His disposal (Ps 24:1; 50:10-11). Let us trust Him and be free from anxiety (Matt 6:25-34).⚜