Last time Jesus’ message was, “if you want to follow me you must count the cost”: For whosoever shall desire to save his life shall lose it, but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake and the gospel’s shall save it. Whenever I covered passages like these in my sermons in Jail, I would always tell the men that this was an example of “Truth in advertising.” Jesus always told the truth even when it would most likely drive people away.
Think about it: If you have something important to offer and you want people to follow you, the most common strategy in our world is to tell them how much better off they will be by coming with you rather than the opposition. That’s Marketing 101. Tell them how happy they will be with your product and tell them how bummed they will be if instead they use the competition’s product.
If that is true when talking about merchandise, it is all the more true when talking about conflicts. People want to follow winners, not losers…
But here Jesus seems to be doing the exact opposite. The fact is, He has been saying things like this since the Sermon on the Mount: “Follow me and you will be persecuted, in fact you will probably lose your life.”
How many people do you think are going to line up to follow you, with that kind of fantastic offer?
It just sounds illogical, irrational. But Jesus immediately reminds us that this life, this world, is not what it is all about…
…because it has never been the end of the story:
he shall come in the glory of his Father with the holy angels.
He is telling them, there is more to come. And it is in that “more” that the victory of right over wrong comes about. The glorious triumph of God cannot occur in this world because this world cannot contain it. But He can give us a foretaste of the glory to come. This is what Jesus does for His closest disciples now…
Mark 9:1-4 And he said to them, Verily I say unto you, There are some of those standing here that shall not taste death until they shall have seen the kingdom of God come in power.
And after six days Jesus takes with [him] Peter and James and John, and takes them up on a high mountain by themselves apart. And he was transfigured before them: and his garments became shining, exceeding white [as snow], such as fuller on earth could not whiten [them]. And there appeared to them Elias with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus.
The first part of this revelation is that the Kingdom of God is coming in power. But that power is not measured by the overturning of the kingdoms of the world. Jesus has also hinted at this time and time again. The Kingdom of God is not coming to replace the Kingdom of the world – in this world. Again, this world could not contain it. This fallen world is no longer suited for God’s eternal plan. That is why prophecies talk about a new Heaven and a new Earth.
The Kingdom of God has come to destroy the power of the devil, the spiritual kingdom powers that rule over lives and even countries. And it can do that right in the middle of the physical reality of this world, as it is.
The Kingdom of God need not change anything physical; it need not suddenly eliminate all sickness and aging… or, for that matter, poverty and pain. Because what the Kingdom of God has come to do is rescue our lost souls; it has come to restore our spirits, to open our spiritual eyes and ears so that we can, again see and hear our Heavenly Father who is Spirit.
The Kingdom of God therefore is not going to come with apocalyptic rumblings in the sky… because the Kingdom of God is already here. That is why John the Baptizer and Jesus both began their ministry proclaiming, “Repent for the Kingdom of God is at hand.” It is at hand! All I have to do is reach out, stretch out my hand to seek it, and I will find it.
Peter, James, and John get a taste of glory. They see Jesus clothed in light and then Elijah and Moses appear next to Him, just talking, as if there were nothing extraordinary about that scene. And Luke, in his gospel, tell us that what they were talking about was Jesus’ coming “departure”; he uses the word exodus. They were talking about the cross: His coming death and resurrection…which is indeed, the ultimate triumph of the Kingdom of God. Once the work of the cross is accomplished, the way to the Kingdom of God will be once and forever opened to all humanity. God’s promise to Abraham that all nations would be blessed in his seed will be finally fulfilled.
Mark 9:5-7 And Peter answering says to Jesus, Rabbi, it is good that we should be here; and let us make three tabernacles, for thee one, and for Moses one, and for Elias one. For he knew not what he should say, for they were filled with fear. And there came a cloud overshadowing them, and there came a voice out of the cloud, *This* is my beloved Son: hear him.
Peter did not know what to say but this shows us that he certainly understood how this scene connected with the whole story of his people. Back in the days of Moses, when they were in the wilderness, Moses had set up a tent, a tabernacle, called the tent of meeting. And when God wanted to talk to him, the Shekinah glory descended upon the tent, and then Moses went in.
Peter recognizes that this same glory is now shining from Jesus, Moses, and Elijah, and they are talking, and the disciples are hearing them… The scene just needs the tabernacles to be “proper.”
His initial reaction is proven right when the Shekinah descends over the whole gathering and God the Father’s voice confirms what He said at Jesus’ baptism: This is the Son of God. He began His ministry according to the Father’s will, He has now, by choice, crossed the point of no return to its determined end.
Mark 9:8-10 And suddenly having looked around, they no longer saw any one, but Jesus alone with themselves. And as they descended from the mountain, he charged them that they should relate to no one what they had seen, unless when the Son of man should be risen from among [the] dead. And they kept that saying, questioning among themselves, what rising from among [the] dead was.
Once the event is over, all returns to normalcy. Jesus again tells them not to tell anyone that He is the Messiah (to prevent a worldly, political uprising). But now, for the first time he tells them when they will be able, finally, to tell everybody: After He rises from the dead.
Makes sense, doesn’t it? Once He has risen from the dead, no human political uprising could use Him as a figurehead… who would join a revolution in the name of a dead man or a ghost?
Now, we notice that the disciples are still having trouble conceiving that Jesus’ dire warnings at the end of Chapter 8, and the explicit statement here, can really mean that Jesus is going to be killed. It is not that they are dumb. It is just that it is inconceivable: What kind of triumph brings about the death of the hero? Who ever heard of a thing like that? They don’t get it.
Would we have responded differently?
I don’t think so.
It is not a matter of ignorance; it is a matter of the heart. And our hearts are no different from theirs. We all want victory. We all want everything to finally be right, and the things (and people) that bring us down to fail, we want those to be defeated.
But what if that final rightness is not meant to happen in this world?
What if it cannot because the true Good, real Truth, unconditional Love, overwhelming Kindness… all of those cannot “fit” inside this fallen universe?
Am I willing to accept that?
And you could say, “But if that is true, how come we long for all that? I mean, God made us… He knows how He made us. And these feelings, these longings are built into us: How can we be crying out for something that is impossible here, and beyond our comprehension?”
But you see, I said it was not meant to happen in this world. It doesn’t “fit” in this world but that doesn’t mean they cannot “fit” in my life.
My life, your life, is more, much more than exists in this world. We are spirit, and that spirit can live beyond this world because it was made for God’s world. That is why we understand all these things and yearn for them.
But if the Son of God tells me that I can only have them on the other side of death, then who am I to object? It may not make sense to my worldly heart, but my spirit knows it is true.
I acknowledge that this is not a trivial attitude to hold: To go through life deferring all the pleasures and riches that can be had by simply accepting the ways of the world, for the sake of a future that no one can see. Hoping for a “pie in the sky, in the by and by,” we are rightly mocked by the world as delusional, as “disconnected from reality.”
Or are we?
How do we know that future is real?
The power of prophecy
Willing to try to understand, the disciples think back to what they had been taught about the end times. If this is really the End coming, how come Elijah has not appeared yet? Malachi 3:13 Behold, I send my messenger, and he shall prepare the way before me; and the Lord whom ye seek will suddenly come to his temple, and the Angel of the covenant, whom ye delight in: behold, he cometh, saith Jehovah of hosts. And Malachi 4:5-6 Behold, I send unto you Elijah the prophet, before the coming of the great and terrible day of Jehovah. And he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children, and the heart of the children to their fathers, lest I come and smite the earth with a curse.
Mark 9:11-13 And they asked him saying, Why do the scribes say that Elias must first have come? And he answering said to them, Elias indeed, having first come, restores all things; and how is it written of the Son of man that he must suffer much, and be set at nought: but I say unto you that Elias also is come, and they have done to him whatever they would, as it is written of him.
In His gospel, Matthew gives us the rest of Jesus’ answer and the disciples’ reaction:
Matthew 17:12-13 But I say unto you that Elias has already come, and they have not known him, but have done unto him whatever they would. Thus also the Son of man is about to suffer from them. Then the disciples understood that he spoke to them of John the baptist.
As Jesus told the disciples a while back – when He was discussing the parable of the sower – if they ask they shall receive. Any question they ask will be answered. And here, because they asked, Jesus answered. And this answer is really important for us to understand. Not just the message about John the Baptist but a principle that we must recognize applies to prophecy in general.
Prophecy is a big deal to God. In the book of Isaiah, starting in chapter 41, God begins an argument that He keeps bringing up several times: He, as the Only True God, decides to openly challenge all the false gods: the false gods that His own people foolishly got tempted to believe in and worship, over and over.
And God’s fundamental challenge to these gods is this: “If you are really gods, predict the future and have it happen. If you are really gods, explain the past and point out how you were the ones that determined it.”
Isaiah 41:4 Who hath wrought and done [it], calling the generations from the beginning? I, Jehovah, the first; and with the last, I [am] HE.
Isaiah 41:21-24 Produce your cause, saith Jehovah; bring forward your arguments, saith the King of Jacob. Let them bring them forward, and declare to us what shall happen: shew the former things, what they are, that we may give attention to them, and know the end of them;—or let us hear things to come: declare the things that are to happen hereafter, that we may know that ye are gods; yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be astonished, and behold it together. Behold, ye are less than nothing, and your work is of nought; an abomination is he that chooseth you.
Isaiah 41:26 Who hath declared [it] from the beginning, that we may know? and beforetime, that we may say, [It is] right? Indeed, there is none that declareth; no, none that sheweth; no, none that heareth your words.
Isaiah 43:9-10 Let all the nations be gathered together, and let the peoples be assembled: who among them declareth this, or causeth us to hear former things? let them bring forth their witnesses, that they may be justified; or let them hear, and say, [It is] truth. Ye are my witnesses, saith Jehovah, and my servant whom I have chosen; that ye may know and believe me, and understand that I [am] HE: before me there was no God formed, neither shall there be after me.
Isaiah 44:6-8 Thus saith Jehovah, the King of Israel, and his Redeemer, Jehovah of hosts: I [am] the first, and I [am] the last, and beside me there is no God. And who, as I, shall call, and shall declare it, and set it in order for me, since I appointed the ancient people? And the coming things, and those that shall happen, let them declare unto them. Fear not, neither be afraid. Have I not caused thee to hear from that time, and have declared it? and ye are my witnesses. Is there a +God beside me? yea, there is no Rock: I know not any.
Over and over the LORD makes the point that He is a God that speaks, and He has used that voice throughout history to guide His people, and prepare them, and tell them what is going to happen. But all the other gods are nothing but idols…
Psalm 115: 4-8 Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands: They have a mouth, and they speak not; eyes have they, and they see not; they have ears, and they hear not; a nose have they, and they smell not; they have hands, and they handle not; feet have they, and they walk not; they give no sound through their throat. They that make them are like unto them,—every one that confideth in them.
Now, we know that the statues are lifeless idols, but the supernatural power behind them is real: The Israelites knew this from the beginning. That is why God forbid them from mixing with those nations. He knew they would be tempted to worship their gods.
Psalm 106:35-37 But they mingled with the nations, and learned their works; and they served their idols; and they were a snare unto them: And they sacrificed their sons and their daughters unto demons…
So, demons are real. The enemy is real. And just as Pharaoh’s magicians turned their staffs into serpents, it has always been possible that the false prophets of these false gods could display magical powers to try to fool the people into believing them. They could even claim to foretell the future. And if they did… Couldn’t those supernaturally powered demons make those predictions come true?
The answer is no.
God has created there a line that cannot be crossed. He did it because He knows we are weak. So, He reserved to Himself the absolute right, the absolute power to control time, future and past… and the absolute right to be the Only One God who speaks Truth:
Isaiah 44:24-26 Thus saith Jehovah, thy Redeemer, and he that formed thee from the womb: I [am] Jehovah, the maker of all things; who alone stretched out the heavens, who did spread forth the earth by myself; —he that frustrateth the tokens of the liars, and maketh diviners mad; that turneth wise men backward, and maketh their knowledge foolish; that confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be inhabited; and to the cities of Judah, Ye shall be built up, and I will raise up their ruins;
So, insofar as Prophecy is concerned, God has declared that He will always foil the false prophecies of these demons… they will not come true, they will fail. BUT He will confirm the words of His prophets.
This is what God has decided. And this is His undisputable proof to us that He is Who He claims to be and there is no one else that comes anywhere close.
It turns out we are not delusional
Prophecy is a unique gift for us that by giving us a glimpse of a future that we cannot see, and certifying it, and then God causing it to pass …gives us the reason (the logical reason) to believe God when He then speaks to us of another future that we cannot see:
Our life in His eternal Kingdom.
It is a gift from God, and like everything else that comes from Him, we must receive it by faith. It certainly is not meant to be deciphered by figuring out some hidden Bible code or some mysterious numerical clue that no one but “the initiated” can figure out. (And it is a fools errand to try to force-fit current events into a prophecy just so we can justify actions that we want to take.)
Prophecy, like His Word in general, is plain… there to be understood by all of us. But we must always remember Who is speaking this Word. This is God, infinite beyond our imagining; existing in dimensions that we cannot conceive of. And so, when He gives prophecies throughout the Bible, often those prophecies have more than one side.
It is like a hologram: You look at it from one direction and you see one side of the image. You look from another direction, and you can see another side that was hidden before. Yet it is the same flat piece of plastic; the same 2D hologram contains and infinite number of 3D images.
Many of God’s prophecies have this property: They are fulfilled at one time in a given situation and then they are fulfilled at a different time in another situation…true, even exactly true, in both. Like David in one of his psalms talking about being betrayed when He says that his enemy shared a meal with him (Psalm 41:9) and then Jesus saying exactly the same about Judas.
Here, Jesus gives His disciples one of those instances. Malachi is right: Elijah will come back at the end times when the Messiah is about to return as the Lion of the tribe of Judah. But Elijah already came: John the Baptizer who came in the spirit and power of Elijah; he came precisely to turn the hearts of the people back to God.
The choice is then up to us, as it was up to the disciples… Which Elijah do we want to receive as our herald? In which one’s generation do you want to live in? There is the one that came, announced the Plan of Salvation, proclaimed the coming of the gentle Messiah, and called us to follow Him in repentance. That Elijah paid the ultimate price for carrying out his mission.
There is another Elijah coming… but when that one comes, it will be in the middle of a terrifying war for the soul of humanity (see Revelation 11). I know in which generation I would rather live…