Jesus said:
4 I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do. 5 And now, O Father, glorify thou me with thine own self with the glory which I had with thee before the world was. John 17:4,5
What glory did Jesus have before the world was? Ellen White said in Desire of Ages p23:
Had (Christ) appeared with the glory that was His with the Father before the world was, we could not have endured the light of His presence. That we might behold it and not be destroyed, the manifestation of His glory was shrouded. His divinity was veiled with humanity,—the invisible glory in the visible human form. {DA 23.1}
And yet Jesus at the close of His earthly ministry asked His Father to give Him the glory that He had with the Father before the world was. Why did Jesus ask for this revelation of His glory if people could not endure it? Turn with me in your bibles to Matthew 16:27,28. Here Jesus is speaking to His disciples and He says:
27 For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works. 28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. Matthew 16:27,28
Many people in reading this last verse have become confused thinking that Jesus meant that people that were alive in Jesus day would live to the second coming. But that is not what Jesus is talking about. He is talking about the same thing that He was talking about in John 17. He wanted His disciples to see the glory that He had before the world was. With that in mind let’s go on to the beginning of the next chapter: Matthew 17. Here the Bible says:
1 And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, 2 And was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light. Matthew 17:1,2
There is so much to unpack in this story. But I want you to see before we go any further that this experience was the fulfillment of Jesus’ request in John 17 of His father that He might have the glory that He had with His Father before the world was. This is also the fulfillment of Jesus’ statement in the previous chapter of Matthew 16 when Jesus said to His disciples:
28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here, which shall not taste of death, till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom. Matthew 16:28.
On the mount of transfiguration three of Jesus’ disciples, Peter, James and John saw Jesus transformed before their very eyes. The bible says on a high mountain Jesus face shone like the sun and his raiment or robe was white as the light. There is more than one theory about where this spectacular scene took place. The traditional site is located on Mount Tabor, a beautiful rounded mountain in Galilee with a view of the surrounding country on all sides. Today the church of Transfiguration is located at the top of the 1,886 foot mountain.
Others believe that it is more likely that the scene of Jesus’ transfiguration took place on the top of Mount Hermon farther to the north. The reason for this is that Mount Hermon is the highest mountain in the area and would certainly fulfill the statement that Jesus took Peter, James and John to a high mountain. At 9,232 feet high Mount Hermon is often snow capped and from its peak flow waters that empty into the sea of Galilee. Mount Hermon is also closer to the events that occurred in Matthew 16 in Caesarea Philippi.
While I lean towards the second site of Mount Hermon it is important to know that the transfiguration described in Matthew 17 and alluded to in John 17 was an important foretaste of the glory that Jesus will ultimately receive when He returns to this earth. The three disciples that were closest to Jesus were given the tremendous privilege of witnessing Jesus in a glorified state. Why? Well let’s keep reading in Matthew 17. The bible says:
3 And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. 4 Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. 5 While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. 6 And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. Matthew 17:3-6
You see as Jesus’ ministry drew to a close and the appointed death came closer and closer Jesus knew that His disciples would need something to strengthen their faith when they saw Him beaten and crucified. But even as the disciples experienced the supernatural revelation of Jesus’ glory on the mount of transfiguration we can see that they still did not understand the true nature of His mission. As they looked in awe upon a scened that must have left them initially breathless, Peter said to Jesus in verse 4:
…Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. Matthew 17:4
You see as Peter, James and John gazed upon this transcendent scene they believed that this was the beginning of a coronation. The Jews had come to believe that when the Messiah came His coming would be heralded by Elijah. And they believed that when Elijah came he would announce the beginning of the Messiah’s reign on earth. And so as the disciples recognized the prophet Elijah standing beside Jesus they believed that Jesus’ earthly kingdom was about to commence.
When Jesus took took the cup at the last supper and He said:
This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. 1 Corinthians 11:25
That cup filled with grape juice had been an addition to the passover service commanded by God in Exodus. That cup had been placed upon every Jewish table for the passover service from the time the Jews realized that Elijah must come before the Messiah. In the last book of the Old Testament we read:
Behold, I will send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and dreadful day of the LORD: Malachi 4:5
Knowing that Elijah had to come before the Messiah, the Jewish people traditionally placed a cup full of grape juice or wine on the table at passover for Elijah to drink. Each year they hoped that Elijah would come in and drink that cup and then announce that their suffering was about to end because the Messiah was coming. But as Jesus sat at the last supper with His disciples He needed them to understand that Elijah had already come and announced the arrival of the Messiah. Elijah had announced the Messiah’s arrival when John the Baptist boldly proclaimed at Jesus’ baptism:
…Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world. John 1:29
The Messiah hadn’t come to relieve the Jewish people from the political oppression of the Romans. Jesus had come to save the world from their sins. This was His mission. And despite Peter, James and John’s misunderstanding Jesus was only a few days away from calvary when they all stood on the Mount of Transfiguration. As light shown down upon Jesus’ from heaven and as He talked with Moses and Elijah the disciples could not fully understand what Jesus came to do. And while they saw the radiant beams of light that emanated from Jesus Himself they could not truly understand His glory. You see Jesus’ glory is not like the glory of the great men of this world. Jesus’ glory doesn’t come from vanquishing an earthly army or conquering a powerful kingdom.
Jesus’ glory comes from His character. In fact Christ’s character is His glory. Long before the scene took place at the Mount of Transfiguration there was another time that the Lord revealed His glory. This time it was to the other figure that would eventually stand with Jesus in front of the bewildered disciples. More than a millennium before Moses asked the Lord to show to him His glory and the Lord responded by placing Moses in the cleft of the rock, passing by and saying:
6…The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. Exodus 34:6,7
God’s glory, Jesus glory that He had with the Father before the world began is His character. Jesus is love. He is long-suffering. He is good. He is true. And because of all this He is worthy to be praised. Because of all this He is worthy to be worshipped. We bow down to Jesus not because He has vanquished nations, not because He has conquered the hosts of darkness. We bow down to Jesus because He is love. Because He is willing to do whatever it takes to save us. For over four thousand years the character of Christ had been maligned by the great deceiver. For over four thousand years the devil distorted the nature of Christ. But at the cross all of that was corrected. At the cross it was made plain.
Jesus is worthy to be praised. He is worthy to be worshipped. He is worthy to be exalted. The same God who fashioned and made countless world’s is the same God that left heaven behind so that you and I might be rescued. Jesus needed His disciples to see then and He needs us to see now who He truly is. His glory doesn’t come from His omnipotent power. It comes from His infinite love.
Before Jesus can be crowned King of the universe the universe needs to know that His character is King. Jesus’ heart is what qualifies Him to be the Lord. Will you worship the King of Kings and Lord of Lords? Will you kneel before the one that stooped so low? There is no one like Jesus. It’s time for Jesus to again receive the glory that He had with the Father before the world was: glory that shines forth with the light of a thousand suns, glory that is merely the manifestation of His character.
Praise Jesus today, because there is no one like Him. Give Him the glory, because great things He hath done!
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