Luke IX. 28.
I MEAN to handle the transfiguration of Christ, which was : —
1. A solemn confirmation of his person and office.
2. A pledge of that glorious estate which is reserved for us in heaven.
1. It was a confirmation of his person and office, as appeareth Mat. xvii. 5, ' This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased ; hear ye him.' So Peter, who was one present, urgeth it, 2 Pet. i. 16-18, ' We have not followed cunningly-devised fables when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eye-witnesses of his majesty. For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. And this voice which came from heaven we heard when we were with him in the holy mount.' And John also : John i. 14, ' We beheld his glory, as the glory of the only-begotten of the Father.' They were eye and ear witnesses, and therefore could affirm the certainty of this doctrine.
2. It is a pledge of our glorious estate ; for Christ's body was adorned with heavenly glory, and he had spoken, chap. xvi. 27, of his coming in the glory of the Father ; and now he gives his disciples a pledge and earnest of it.
In this introduction four things are observable : —
1. The time : after six days.
2. The persons whom he takes with him : Peter, James, and John.
3. The place he brings them to : into an high mouniain apart.
4. The preparative action : he went up into a mou7itain to pray. VOL. I. r
338 Christ's transfiguration. [Ser. I.
First, The time. The evangelist Luke saith, ' about an eight days ; ' Matthew and Mark, 'after six days.' The reconciliation is easy. Matthew and Mark spake of the space of time between the day of prediction, and the day of transfiguration exclusively ; Luke includeth them both. The Jews called that flux of time between one Sabbath and another, eight days, including not only the intervening week, but both the Sabbaths, According to their custom Luke speaketh ; Matthew of the time between.
Secondly, The persons chosen to attend him in this action: ' Peter, James, and John.'
1. Why three f
2. Why those three ?
1. Why three ? So great an action as this was needed valuable testimony ; for the law saith, ' In the mouth of two or three witnesses everything shall be established,' Deut. xvii. 6. Now Christ would go to the utmost of the law, and would have, not two only, but three witnesses, as the apostle speaks of three witnesses in heaven and three on earth, 1 John v. 7, 8 ; so here are three and three — three from heaven, God the Father, Moses, and Elias ; and three from earth, Peter, James, and John.
2. Why those three ? Many give divers reasons. Peter had led the way to the rest in that notable confession of Christ, Mat. xvi. 16, and is conceived to have some primacy for the orderly beginning of actions in the college of the apostles. James was the first apostle who shed his blood for Christ, Acts xii. 2 ; and John was the most long-lived of them all, and so could the longer give testimony of those things which he heard and saw, till the church was well gathered and settled. Others give other reasons. But to leave conjectures, it is certain that these had many singular favours afforded them above the rest of the twelve, as appeareth partly in this, that Christ changed their names, calling Peter, Cephas, or a stone ; and the other two Boanerges, sons of thunder, which was a token that Christ loved these more than the rest. Yea, among these, John was his bosom favourite, and therefore called often ' the disciple whom Jesus loved,' partly because he was in the whole course of lus life more intimate with these than with the rest of the disciples. You shall see when he raised Jairus's daughter from death to life, Luke viii. 51, he suffered nobody to go in but Peter, James, and John, and the father and mother of the maiden. So these very persons were those who in Mount Olivet were conscious to his agonies : Mat, xxvi. 27, ' He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and very heavy.' Now these who were to be conscious to his agonies are first in Mount Tabor beholders of his great majesty and glory, for their better encourage- ment and preparation for his and their own sufferings.
Thirdly, The place : ' He bringeth them into an high mountain apart.' This mountain is supposed to be Tabor, though not named by the evangelists — a fit place both for height and secrecy, both which were necessary to the double action that was to be performed there, either his transfiguration or prayer.
1. To his transfiguration height and secrecy were necessary.
[1.] Height: This work required not only a mountain, but a high
Mat. XVII. 1.] Christ's transfiguration. 339
mountain, for his transfiguration was a middle state between the infir- mity of his flesh and the glory that he now possesseth. So the top of a very high mountain was chosen ; it is as a middle place between heaven, the habitation of God, and earth, the habitation of men. Besides, since Moses and Elias were to appear in this action, and that with bodies above the state of those natural bodies which we have here below, it was more agreeable this should be done in a mountain than in the lower parts of the earth; yea, moreover, they were so nearer to heaven, to Avhich they went back again.