[2.] His office : the great prophet of the church, ' Hear ye him.' A greater prophet than Moses. Moses saw the face of God, but he was in the bosom of God. Moses, his face shone, but not as Christ's, for it could be hidden by a veil ; Christ darts his glory through his garments. Moses, his shining was terrible ; Christ's was comfortable — the apostles were loath to lose the sight of it.
2. To show what Christ should be ; for this was a pledge with what glory he should come in his kingdom, Mat. xvi. 27 : it prefigured the glory of his second coming. Thus, for the confirmation of their faith, Christ would give his disciples a glimpse of his glory ; he knew they would be sorely assaulted and shaken by the ignominy of his cross. But what is all this to us ? We see not his glory.
[1.] What was once done and sufficiently attested needs not to be repeated ; but it is a great satisfaction to us that we have a glorious head and chief ; when we suffer for him we need not be ashamed of our sufferings. The apostles urge this concerning us as well as them.
[2.] The immediate manifestations of him who dwelleth in light inaccessible would undo us while we are in our mortal bodies. Blessed be God that he hath chosen fit means to reveal himself to us, that we may behold the glory of the Lord in a glass, 2 Cor. iii. 18, by the ministry of the word and other ordinances. The Israelites were sensible how little they could endure him who is, as it were, all sun, and all light, and all fire : Exod. xx. 18, 19, ' Let not God speak to us, lest we die.' Elijah wrapt his face in a mantle when God appeared unto him, 1 Kings xix. 13 ; when Christ appeared to Paul from heaven he trembled and was astonished, and was three days without sight, as you may see, Acts ix. 9. There was a special reason why an apostle should see him in person.
[3.] We shall see this glory when fit for it : John xvii. 24, 'Father, I will that they whom thou hast given me may be with me where I am, that they may behold my glory which thou hast given me.' The queen of Sheba took a longj ourney to behold the glory of Solomon, that was but a temporal, fading, and earthly glory. Now much more transcendent is the glory of Christ's body in heaven ; this we shall see to all eternity.
3. To show what we shall be ; for Christ is the pattern, prhnum in unoquoque genere, &c.
[1.] It showeth the possibility of our having a glorified body. When the Lord is pleased to let forth and communicate his glory, he is able to adorn and beautify our earthly and obscure bodies. The body of man in its composition hath a great mixture of earth, which is dark and obscure. Now God can make this clod of earth to shine as the star or sun for brightness : Phil. iii. 21, ' Who shall change our vile body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according to the working whereby he is able to subdue all things to himself.' We are apt to say, How can it be ? If we consider the infinite and absolute power of God, and this instance of Christ, it will make it
Mat. XVII. 2.] Christ's transfiguration. 357
more reconcilable to your thoughts, and this hard point will be of easier digestion to your faith.
[2.] The certainty of it, as well as the possibility; for Christ assumed our body, not for passion only, but for glorification, that therein he might be an instance and pattern to us. For if the head be glorious, so will the members also. How base soever the jjcople of God seem to be in this world, yet in the life to come they shall be wonderfully glorious : Mark xiii. 43, ' The righteous shall shine as the sun in the kingdom of their ftither.' So Col. iii. 3, 4, ' Now our life is hidden with Christ, but when he who is our life shall appear, we shall appear with him in glory ;' 1 John iii. 2, ' When he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is;' 2 Thes. i. 10, ' Christ shall be glorified in his saints, and admired in all them that believe.' All these places show we shall be partakers of this glory.
[3.] The manner. Glorification taketh not away the substance and natural properties of the body, for there is a glorious transfiguration, but no abolition of the substance of Christ's body ; it was the same body of Christ before and after transfiguration. Glory freeth us from natural infirmities, but it doth not strip us of natural properties. Christ hath showed in his own body what he can or will perform in ours — these same bodies, but otherwise adorned, tovto to aojfxa t^? Ta7reLVQ)(Teo)<;: and ' with these eyes shall I see God,' Jobxix. 26, 27: Tovto to (f>6apT6v, ' This corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortalit}^' 1 Cor. xv. 53.