“This is My beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased; listen to Him.” Matthew 17:5b ESV¹

Read Matthew 17:1-8, Mark 9:2-8 & Luke 9:28-36

When we talk about mountain top experiences, we speak of times in which we were inspired, times when we had revelations, or times that were unusually enjoyable. Like the strenuousness required to climb a mountain, such experiences are extra satisfying, because they usually come after times of difficulty. Mountain top experiences are not everyday occurrences; they are something special, something out of the ordinary, and something to be remembered. Today, we will consider a mountain top experience which solidified the faith of some of the disciples, but, more importantly, one which empowered Jesus to continue on the path set before Him.

Jesus “took with Him Peter and John and James and” (Luke 9:28a) “led them up a high mountain by themselves” (Matthew 17:1 and Mark 9:2) “to pray. And as He was praying, the appearance of His face was altered” (Luke 9:28b-29a); “His face shone like the sun” (Matthew 17:2), “and His clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one on Earth could bleach them” (Mark 9:3). “And behold, two men were talking with Him, Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem. Now Peter and those who were with him were heavy with sleep, but when they became fully awake, they saw His glory and the two men who stood with Him. And as the men were parting from Him, Peter said to Jesus, ‘Master, it is good that we are here. Let us make three tents, one for You and one for Moses and one for Elijah’—not knowing what he said” (Luke 9:30-33). “He did not know what to say, for they were terrified” (Mark 9:6). “As [Peter] was saying these things, a cloud came and overshadowed them, and they were afraid as they entered the cloud. And a Voice came out of the cloud, saying, ‘This is My Son, My Chosen One;’” (Luke 9:34-35a), “‘My beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased; listen to Him. When the disciples heard this, they fell on their faces and were terrified. But Jesus came and touched them, saying, ‘Rise and have no fear’” (Matthew 17:5b-7). “And when the Voice had spoken, Jesus was found alone. And they kept silent and told no one in those days anything of what they had seen” (Luke 9:36).

Though Peter, James, and John told “no one what they had seen, until the Son of Man had risen from the dead” (Mark 9:9b), what they had observed was not soon forgotten. The event remained fresh in the mind of Peter. In his second letter to the young Church, Peter wrote, “For we did not follow cleverly devised myths when we made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but we were eyewitnesses of His majesty. For when He received honor and glory from God the Father, and the Voice was borne to Him by the Majestic Glory, ‘This is My beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased,’ we ourselves heard this very Voice borne from Heaven, for we were with Him on the holy mountain” (2 Peter 1:16-18). Though this event impacted the disciples who were present, I believe it occurred primarily, not for their advantage, but the benefit of Jesus.

Jesus had been very busy, and He was pulled in many directions. He had been teaching, prophesying, healing people, and performing miracles. He had been encouraging the down-trodden, mentoring His disciples, and commissioning and sending forth ministers. Jesus had been arguing with the religious leaders and putting up with the disappointing lack of faith from His disciples. Jesus had also been dealing with the loss of a good friend, facing rejection from His relatives and neighbors, and going against the wishes of His earthly family in favor of choosing the will of His Heavenly Father. Plus, Jesus had been pondering the enormous responsibility He would soon have to complete. So, because of all that had been and was to happen, Jesus climbed a mountain to pray.

Jesus took along Peter, James, and John, presumably to pray with Him and give Him some moral support, but, as was not uncharacteristic, they fell asleep. Not to be too judgmental, they did just climb a high mountain. Most of us would have been tired. But Jesus was not; He had come for something special, something which could not be provided by the disciples.

Instead, God sent two others to meet with Jesus, Moses and Elijah. Now, I don’t know how the disciples were able to identify the glorified Moses and Elijah. It is not like they had photographs back then. I doubt the painted portraits of these great Jewish leaders were hanging in a Jerusalem museum. And it doesn’t even seem like Moses and Elijah identified themselves; they didn’t appear to speak to the disciples at all. Perhaps, God revealed to the disciples who these visitors were. Or maybe Jesus later shared their identity.

But why did God send Moses and Elijah? I have heard it said that Moses represented the Law, and Elijah represented the Prophets. Since Jesus was the fulfillment of both the Law and the Prophets, it makes sense that Moses and Elijah were present. Though I am sure this theory is correct, I believe there are additional plausible reasons. Moses and Elijah had much in common with Jesus.

Both Moses and Elijah did some serious fasting.

You probably remember the account when, “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, He was hungry” (Luke 4:1-2). But did you know that both Moses and Elijah spent intense times with God in which they also fasted for forty days and forty nights?

Moses’ experience was this: “The LORD said to Moses, ‘Write these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.’ So, he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments” (Exodus 34:27-28).

In Elijah’s case, after a particularly physically and spiritually exhausting time, “he lay down and slept under a broom tree. And behold, an angel touched him and said to him, ‘Arise and eat.’ And he looked, and behold, there was at his head a cake baked on hot stones and a jar of water. And he ate and drank and lay down again. And the angel of the LORD came again a second time and touched him and said, ‘Arise and eat, for the journey is too great for you.’ And he arose and ate and drank, and went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mount of God” (1 Kings 19:5-8).

I don’t know if Moses and Elijah were plagued by Satan after they fasted for forty days and nights, but they, like Jesus, definitely knew what it was like to spend high-quality, uninterrupted time with the LORD all the while being exceptionally physically hungry.

Both Moses and Elijah had unique encounters with God on mountains.

On Mount Sinai, Moses asked God, “‘Please show me Your glory.” And He said, ‘I will make all My goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you My Name, “The LORD.” And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. But,’ He said, ‘you cannot see My face, for man shall not see Me and live.’ And the LORD said, ‘Behold, there is a place by Me where you shall stand on the rock, and while My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with My hand until I have passed by. Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back, but My face shall not be seen’” (Exodus 33:18-23).

On Mount Horeb, God told Elijah, “‘Go out and stand on the mount before the LORD.’ And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore the mountains and broke in pieces the rocks before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire. And after the fire the sound of a low whisper. And when Elijah heard it, he wrapped his face in his cloak and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave. And behold, there came a Voice to him and said, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah’” (1 Kings 19:11-13)?

Some believe Mount Sinai and Mount Horeb are two different names for the same mountain, but based on Scripture alone, it is not clear if the mountain on which Moses saw God’s glory was the same mountain on which Elijah heard God’s voice. And we don’t know the name of the mountain where the glorified Moses and Elijah met with the transfigured Jesus, but we can be sure that these encounters fit the definition of mountain top experiences! And, in Moses’ case, his involvement with the LORD on Mount Sinai even left him, like Jesus, radiant (see Exodus 34:29).

Both Moses and Elijah had unusual circumstances surrounding their deaths.

Because those who later testified to the account spent most of the conversation sleeping or confused in fear, we don’t know all that transpired in the interaction, but we do know that “two men were talking with [Jesus], Moses and Elijah, who appeared in glory and spoke of His departure, which He was about to accomplish at Jerusalem” (Luke 9:30). There was some information that was necessary to be transferred from Moses and Elijah concerning Jesus’ upcoming death, resurrection, and ascension. Who better to share such details than two people who also had exceptional experiences surrounding their departures?

In his last days, Moses, by himself, a man of 120 years, climbed a mountain; there he died and was buried by God! “Moses went up from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is opposite Jericho. And the LORD showed him all the land, Gilead as far as Dan, all Naphtali, the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, the Negeb, and the Plain, that is, the Valley of Jericho the city of palm trees, as far as Zoar. And the LORD said to him, ‘This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, “I will give it to your offspring.” I have let you see it with your eyes, but you shall not go over there.’ So, Moses the servant of the LORD died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the LORD, and [the LORD] buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth-Peor; but no one knows the place of his burial to this day” (Deuteronomy 34:1-6).

Elijah spent his last day taking a long walk with his mentee, Elisha, before Elijah was swept up by a God-ordained mini-tornado. “Now when the LORD was about to take Elijah up to Heaven by a whirlwind, Elijah and Elisha were on their way from Gilgal. And Elijah said to Elisha, ‘Please stay here, for the LORD has sent me as far as Bethel.’ But Elisha said, ‘As the LORD lives, and as you yourself live, I will not leave you.’ So, they went down to Bethel. And the sons of the prophets who were in Bethel came out to Elisha and said to him, ‘Do you know that today the LORD will take away your master from over you?’ And he said, ‘Yes, I know it; keep quiet’” (2 Kings 2:1-3).

At Bethel, the LORD sent Elijah on to Jericho where the exact same thing happened. Then God implored Elijah to go further on to the Jordan. Still, Elisha would not leave Elijah’s side. “And as they still went on and talked, behold, chariots of fire and horses of fire separated the two of them. And Elijah went up by a whirlwind into Heaven. And Elisha saw it, and he cried, ‘My father, my father! The chariots of Israel and its horsemen!’ And he saw him no more” (2 Kings 11-12).

God prepared both Moses and Elijah for their exoduses from this earth, and He was with each of them during the whole process. The Father had, and was continuing to, prepare Jesus for His departure. With the task before Him, Jesus would need to know that He was not alone. Even with the assurance from Moses and Elijah that God would never leave or forsake Him, when the end came, Jesus did, at least momentarily, feel like He was alone (see Matthew 27:46).

Both Moses and Elijah, after faithfully serving God, found themselves in need of encouragement.

By the hand of the LORD, Moses had taken on the world leader of the time, Pharaoh, and had decimated Egypt. Moses led millions of people out of slavery and taught, administered justice, and mediated for them throughout forty years. In the wilderness, with the help of God, Moses brought water from a rock and provided food for all of Israel and their flocks and herds. Moses organized the collection of materials and the building of the tabernacle. He met regularly with LORD talking with Him as one talks to a friend. Additionally, in his free time, Moses wrote the first five books of the Holy Scriptures. But after receiving the Ten Commandments and returning to the people only to see them engaged in false worship, Moses was angry.

The LORD was angry, too. “The Lord said to Moses, ‘Depart; go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, “To your offspring, I will give it.” I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people’” (Exodus 33:1-3).

When Moses heard that the LORD would not continue to lead His people personally, it was more than Moses could take. “Moses said to the Lord, ‘See, You say to me, “Bring up this people,” but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, “I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.” Now, therefore, if I have found favor in Your sight, please show me now Your ways, that I may know You in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is Your people’” (Exodus 33:12-13). After Moses’ plea, the LORD assured him and “said, ‘My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.’ And [Moses] said to Him, ‘If Your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. For how shall it be known that I have found favor in Your sight, I and Your people? Is it not in Your going with us, so that we are distinct, I and Your people, from every other people on the face of the Earth’ (Exodus 33:14-16)? Again, God encouraged Moses, “and the LORD said to Moses, ‘This very thing that you have spoken I will do, for you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name’ (Exodus 33:17).

Elijah was a prophet during the reign of King Ahab of Israel. “Ahab, the son of Omri, reigned over Israel in Samaria twenty-two years. And Ahab, the son of Omri, did evil in the sight of the LORD, more than all who were before him. And as if [that] had been a light thing …, he took for his wife Jezebel, the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Sidonians, and went and served Baal and worshiped him” (1 Kings 16:29b-31). During Ahab’s entire reign, Elijah continually confronted the king and queen.

Once, “when Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, ‘Is it you, you troubler of Israel?’ And [Elijah] answered, ‘I have not troubled Israel, but you have, and your father’s house, because you have abandoned the commandments of the LORD and followed the Baals. Now, therefore, send and gather all Israel to me at Mount Carmel, and the 450 prophets of Baal and the 400 prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.’ So, Ahab sent to all the people of Israel and gathered the prophets together at Mount Carmel. And Elijah came near to all the people and said, ‘How long will you go limping between two different opinions? If the LORD is God, follow Him; but if Baal, then follow him.’ …  Then Elijah said to the people, ‘I, even I only, am left a prophet of the LORD, but Baal’s prophets are 450 men. Let two bulls be given to us, and let them choose one bull for themselves and cut it in pieces and lay it on the wood, but put no fire to it. And I will prepare the other bull and lay it on the wood and put no fire to it. And you call upon the name of your god, and I will call upon the name of the LORD, and the God who answers by fire, He is God.’ And all the people answered, ‘It is well spoken’” (1 Kings 18:17-24).

What followed was a contest between Elijah and 450 prophets of a false god. It is an exciting story filled with much craziness, sarcasm, impossibility, and a fantastic display of the power of the LORD (see 1 Kings 18:25-39). When all was said and done, the prophets of Baal were annihilated, and the hand of the LORD was so upon Elijah that and he gathered up his garment and outran King Ahab, who was riding in a horse-drawn chariot, all the way to the entrance of Jezreel—a distance of over 100 miles (see 1 Kings 18:46)!

But after that incredible success, Elijah hit an emotional low. “Ahab told Jezebel all that Elijah had done, and how he had killed all the prophets with the sword. Then Jezebel sent a messenger to Elijah, saying, ‘So may the gods do to me and more also, if I do not make your life as the life of one of them by this time tomorrow.’ Then [Elijah] was afraid, and he arose and ran for his life … [Elijah went] into the wilderness and came and sat down under a broom tree. And he asked that he might die, saying, ‘It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers’” (1 Kings 19:1-3). But the LORD felt otherwise, and He sent an angel to minister to Elijah. With what the angel provided, Elijah was able to get up and move on.

Elijah “came to a cave and lodged in it. And behold, the word of the LORD came to him, and He said to him, ‘What are you doing here, Elijah?’  [Elijah] said, ‘I have been very jealous for the LORD, the God of hosts. For the people of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword, and I, even I only, am left, and they seek my life, to take it away’” (1 Kings 19:9-10). The LORD then encouraged Elijah. First, God guided Elijah in his next task, then assured him of the coming defeat over evil, and then gave him a helper (see 1 Kings 19:14-17). But the LORD didn’t stop there. The LORD said, “’I will leave seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed to Baal, and every mouth that has not kissed him’” (1 Kings 19:18). God shared with Elijah the encouragement that he needed most—the fact that he was not alone!

Moses and Elijah were sent to help Jesus. Most of their conversation with Jesus wasn’t for the ears of Peter, James, and John, but something was said that was for the disciples. They woke up and came to their senses in time to hear the voice of God saying, “‘This is my Son, My Chosen One; listen to Him!’” (Luke 9:35b). For some reason, they needed to hear that.

Also, there was something in what the Father said that Jesus needed to hear: “‘This is My beloved Son, with Whom I am well pleased’” (Matthew 17:5b). Jesus had heard these same words from the Father at the beginning of His earthly ministry (see Matthew 3:17), but much had happened since the day He was baptized by John. Much had happened, and Jesus needed to hear those words again. I believe Jesus needed to know that His Father saw and heard Him, what He had done counted, and what He would do was going to be worth it. Those few words, clearly spoken again by the Father, were what Jesus needed to keep going.

It is lovely to receive encouragement from those who can identify with where we have been and have some knowledge of where we will be going, but there is nothing like knowing that those who know us the most and those whom we love the most are proud of us. The encouragement of those dear to us is a great blessing, but there is a catch. If we strive for only human approval, we will continually be disappointed. No human can adequately satisfy another’s deep need for encouragement. Though Jesus may have hoped for it, Peter, James, and John were never going to be able to get their acts together enough to encourage Him thoroughly. Gratifying reassurance that satiates the soul only comes from the LORD Almighty, the very personal and sovereign God.

Searching for fulfillment for our spirit is where our desire for mountain top experiences is born. When we are fortunate enough to have these experiences we, like Peter, want to camp out there. But mountain top experiences are not meant to be everyday occurrences.

Today, whether you find yourself atop a glorious mountain or deep is some darkened valley, whether you are attempting to scale a high hill or are tumbling down the same, it is my prayer that you will ultimately receive your encouragement from God Himself. May you long to be called His beloved child and to know that He is pleased with you. I am confident, no matter where you are or what you lack, that, “My God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus. To our God and Father be glory forever and ever. Amen” (Philippians 4:19-20).

 

¹ Scripture quotations marked with ESV are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version (ESV), copyright 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All Scriptures are taken from the ESV unless otherwise noted. To aid in understanding, I have capitalized references to God.