This passage begins with a description of Jesus praying. Our King, Jesus, the perfect Son of the Father, needed to pray and prayed fervently and frequently. He should be our example in this regard; surely in our weakness we have more need of prayer than He did.
While He is praying, a transformation occurs. His garments became bright. In the parallel account in Matthew (Matt 17:1-8), we are told that His face shone like the sun. Next, two men "appeared in glory" -- Moses, who had been dead for 1400 years, and Elijah, who had been dead for 900 years.
Jesus had been praying, probably about His future work to be performed on the cross, and this was the answer to His prayer. God was sending His Son an encouragement about His work, as Moses and Elijah were talking with Him about the the death He was to die in Jerusalem.
Peter saw all this and was amazed. He thought it was great and he wanted to make three tents -- for Jesus, Moses and Elijah. He was putting Christ on the same level as Moses and Elijah. God immediately quashed that idea. The purpose of Moses was Elijah was to reveal Christ. They had served that purpose, and they were taken back, leaving only Jesus and the disciples. God spoke from a cloud and reveals Jesus as "The Christ". The disciples are terrified and fall down at the voice.
Two interesting points: First, the cloud that fell upon them was referred to in Matthew as a "bright cloud" -- not a dark, ominous cloud to keep men away. Not like the Old Covenant, where a cloud over Sinai terrified the people. The New Covenant is bright, inviting, ready to give revelation.
Secondly, we see in the beginning of this passage that Jesus took the disciples up the mountain to pray with them, but they fell asleep. Had they stayed asleep, they would have completely missed the amazing blessing that God had prepared for them! Pray through with God. Fight against the flesh, engage in the battle -- there may be a blessing awaiting at the end!
However, even though the disciples had fallen asleep and full of fear, Jesus is gentle with them in their weakness. His response is full of grace; we are told in Matthew that He touched them and told them not to be afraid. What kindness and grace!
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