Chapter # 9 Paragraph # 1 Study # 7
January 24, 2023
Moss Bluff, Louisiana
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Thesis: Jesus made it fundamentally impossible for Peter, James, and John to "miss" the significance of their experience.
Introduction: In our study last week we "drilled down to" the issue of Jesus' selection of Peter, James, and John to be the recipients of the experience He had announced would be given to "some" who would not die until they "saw" the Kingdom of God having come (Perfect Tense) with power.
In that study we did not consider the fact that Mark said Jesus had taken them up into a high mountain for this experience. Therefore, this evening we are going to look into that matter.
- I. The Transfiguration On A High Mountain.
- A. The "high mountain".
- 1. The translators call this "a hill" in Luke 9:37.
- a. Both Luke and Mark used "oros" in their records.
- 1. These same "translators" called this "oros" a "mountain" in Luke 9:28 to begin the record of the transfiguration and, then, switched to "hill" at the end of the record (9:37). Why?
- 2. There is also this, in Luke's record: "after eight days" in 9:28.
- a) This is not a translation error, nor is it a "contradiction" of Mark 9:2; it simply indicates that Mark began his "timing" of "after six days" two days later than Luke's "after eight days".
- b) Luke's "point" is simply different from Mark's.
- b. This is a bungling by the "translators"; it does not reflect the Greek texts.
- 2. Mark's "point" in identifying the place of the transfiguration as an "oros uyelon" (a "high mountain") is deliberate.
- a. In 3:13, Mark records that Jesus "goeth up into a mountain" to select The Twelve whom He later declared would sit upon thrones, judging the Twelve Tribes of Israel (Matthew 19:28 and Luke 22:30) but Mark does not refer to this future reality in his record.
- b. The other references to a "mountain" in Mark's record are not as specifically tied to the issue of "The Kingdom of God" as 3:13 and 9:1-2.
- 3. This seems to be Mark's record of Jesus' use of the physical setting to be a part of the "impression" that He sought to make upon Peter, James, and John.
- a. Human beings are clearly influenced in their minds by their physical circumstances ("There's a lion in the street").
- b. We have already seen this in Mark's record of John's "message" with its setting in the wilderness.
- c. "Kingdom" influences in relation to "mountains" is not a rare association in the Old Testament.
- 1) Daniel's "rock cut out of a mountain without hands" that swells into an earth-filling "mountain" is clearly associated with the Kingdom of God as both the root of the origin of the "rock" and the result of that rock's destruction of the other kingdoms of men. Daniel's interpretation is given in Daniel 2:34-35 compared with 2:44-45 and 6:13-14 and 6:23-27.
- 2) Isaiah also refers to "the mountain of the Lord's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills..." in 2:2 and in other places such as 11:9 etc.
- 4. Mark's addition of the adjective "high" is a part of his "kingdom and power" thesis.
- a. This is the only use of "high" (uyelon) by Mark.
- b. Clearly he intended to give the impression that this particular "mountain" was a legitimate "setting" for the revelation of the Kingdom and Power.
- B. The transfiguration.
- 1. The word used is found once in Mark, once in Matthew (referring to the same incident as Mark), once in Romans (12:2) and once in 2 Corinthians (3:18).
- a. In each case, a change takes place in the "glory" involved.
- b. In Mark's use, the "change" is described in terms of His raiment and His associations with Elijah and Moses.
- 1) Elijah is best known as a contender for God's Kingdom in the midst of the apostate northern kingdom of Israel (that God exalts him to the status of "preparer" in respect to the eventual Kingdom of God after the Day of Wrath is also highly significant because he immediately became a "context issue" in 9:11-13).
- 2) Moses is best known as the one who introduced a form of God's Kingdom into the earth.
- 2. Mark intensifies the idea of "transfiguration" by comparing it to "shining exceeding white as snow; so as no fuller on earth can white them".
- a. This is also the use of physical phenomena to influence the thoughts of the disciples.
- b. The exceedingly "whitening" of His clothing signals the outshining of His "Glory" and particularly the "Holiness" involved.
- 3. It is interesting that Mark does not record the content of the conversation between Jesus, Elijah, and Moses (Luke says it concerned "His decease...at Jerusalem"; Luke 9:31).
