"Wherefore I will not be negligent to put you always in remembrance of these things, though ye know them, and be established in the present truth. (13) Yea, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir you up by putting you in remembrance; (14) Knowing that shortly I must put off this my tabernacle, even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath showed me. (15) Moreover I will endeavour that ye may be able after my decease to have these things always in remembrance. (16) For we have not followed cunningly devised fables, when we made known unto you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, but were eyewitnesses of his majesty. (17) For he received from God the Father honour and glory, when there came such a voice to him from the excellent glory, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased. (18) And this voice which came from heaven we heard, when we were with him in the holy mount."
What a delightful portrait is here drawn of the Apostle? What a firmness of mind, in the prospect of his approaching death. He knew, that he should end his days by martyrdom. See John 21:18-19. But Peter knew also, the sure ground upon which he stood. See 2 Peter 3:12-14. And every child of God by regeneration, is sure of the same. 2 Corinthians 5:5. But, what I beg the Reader more particularly to remark, in the Apostle is, the refreshing views he had of the manifestation Christ made to him, in the Holy Mount. The glories of Christ's Person, which he then saw, and his own personal interest in Christ, came with a full tide of remembrance, upon his mind, in the view of his. death, and gave him holy triumph. Reader! it is so with all the people of God, Bethel visits, once made by the Lord, refresh all the after stages of life. Jacob when a-dying, remembered this. Genesis 28:11 to the end, with Genesis 48:1 throughout. Moses also had his soul refreshed, when he called to mind, his first view of God in Christ at the bush. Exodus 3:1 :with Deuteronomy 33:16, But over and above these, let the Reader particularly attend to the evident design of God the Holy Ghost, in thus appointing Peter, to leave this blessed testimony, as his dying testimony, foe every regenerated child of God to be refreshed with. Here are no cunningly devised fables: no arts, no folly of human philosophy, What Peter records is the relation of himself and companions, who were eye-witnesses of Christ's majesty. Reader! let you and I attend to his relation.
And first. What I would beg the Reader to observe, is the Apostle's account of this solemn and glorious scene, in the Mount. He expressly saith, that it was the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ; and that he, and his companions, were eye witnesses of his majesty. Hence it will undeniably follow, that it was the personal glory of the God-Man mediator, Christ Jesus. Not the essential glory of JEHOVAH, in his threefold character of Person, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. For no man hath seen God at any time. John 1:18. But the Personal glory of Christ, as God-Man Mediator. And which the voice that came to Christ, from the excellent glory, confirmed. This voice, both proved indeed, Christ to be God, and no less at the same time, the God-Man Mediator. It proved Christ's Godhead, for God cannot find an object of complacency, but in himself: Hence, Christ is One with the Father, over all, God, blessed forever. Amen. Romans 9:5. And it proved Christ to be the Mediator; for this account of him, as his beloved Son, corresponded to the Lord's proclamation of Him, by the Prophet, when he called him his servant, and his elect, in whom his soul delighteth. Isaiah 42:1. Let the Reader duly ponder these things, in one point together; and then let him attend to another view in this most blessed scene, as God the Holy Ghost hath represented it.
Secondly. Several days before this transfiguration of Christ took place, the Lord Jesus prepared the minds of his disciples, to expect some glorious manifestation of himself. These were the Lord's own words Verily, I say unto you, that there be some of them that stand here, which shall not taste of death, till they have seen the kingdom of God come with power. Mark 9:1; Luke 9:27. Now, nothing can be more plain, than that these words of Jesus referred to some striking, though transient views, of the glories of his kingdom; in which he will appear, when he comes to be glorified in his saints, and admired in all that believe. 2 Thessalonians 1:10. Jesus intended it as a glimpse, a fore-view of his personal glory, in the great day of his kingdom. And, that the Apostles considered it the same, is equally evident, in that Peter calls it, the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. Think, Reader, what a sweet pledge and earnest this was to the disciples, of the sure coming of our Lord? And, how blessedly did the Apostles feel it then; and by them, in the record of the Holy Ghost, how blessedly hath it wrought ever since, and will work, in the fullest confirmation to our faith, on this great point, to endless generations?
Thirdly. Let us, under the light of scripture, consider, what this glory of Christ was, which the Apostles saw, and which Peter calls being eye-witnesses of his majesty. I have before said, it could not be the essential glory of the Godhead, for God is invisible. But, it is most evident, that it was the Godhead, shedding some beams of glory, and brightness, in Christ's human nature. Not a mere outward glory, shining upon the person of Christ, but the Godhead, shining forth from within. The glory of his divine nature, manifested through the medium of his human, and both forming in one glorious person, Christ. Paul, under the Holy Ghost, hath blessedly expressed it, when he saith, In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. Colossians 2:9. Such, Peter saw. James did not live long enough to give his testimony, being soon cut off, after the return of Christ to heaven, and the descent of the Holy Ghost. Acts 12:1-2 John's account is in exact correspondence with Peter's. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, and we beheld his glory; the glory, as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14. And Paul, to whom Christ spake from heaven, and manifested forth his glory at the time saith, that it was above the brightness of the sun, Acts 28:31. Indeed, it made him blind for three days. Hence, then, it must follow, that this manifestation of Christ, at this time, in the Mount, was his glorified body; and such as He will appear in at the last day, when the moon shall be confounded, and the sun ashamed; that is, both shall blush, and be eclipsed, at the superior glory of Christ, God and Man in one person; when, the Lord of Hosts shall reign in Zion, and in Jerusalem, and before his ancients, gloriously Isaiah 24:23
Lastly. That I may not trespass. As this manifestation of the personal glory of Christ was evidently designed for the comfort and joy, not only of those highly favored Apostles, to whom the Lord granted this great blessing, but for the consolation of the Church of God, in all ages; so the Lord's bringing from the dead (or from heaven, it is the same thing), those two men, Moses and Elias, to be with Jesus at the time, as plainly proved, that when Christ shall come, at the last day, to his kingdom, all his redeemed shall be with him, Christ's personal glory is, and ever must be, personal; that is, perfectly incommunicable in its very nature. But, there is a glory in that upper world, which is communicable from Christ, as Head, to his body, his members; precisely the same as grace in this lower world is communicable, and Jesus is forever communicating it to them all, according to the measure of the gift of Christ. So, then, this glorious transaction in the Mount, was plainly intended by our Lord, as a foretaste of that glory of Christ's person, in which he shall one day appear, and all his redeemed shall appear with him in glory. Well might the remembrance of it refresh the dying saint, in the opening prospect then before him. And, Why not refresh all the faithful, in the sure testimony here given, since God the Holy Ghost hath so graciously caused it to be recorded, as the departing consolation of the Apostle to the Church. Lord! make it very blessedly so to my soul!
If I detain the Reader any longer on this sweet passage, it shall only be to offer one or two thoughts which arise out of it, for our great encouragement and comfort. And the first, and highest of all thoughts, must be, to notice, and always keep in remembrance, the love and grace which Jesus manifested to all his Church, by this act. It was, in effect, saying, that if, before these my servants taste of death, I will give them a glimpse of my personal glory, that in them all my people, may have a fore-taste of the blessedness they shall all be brought to hereafter. Moses and Elias, shall come out of the other World, by way of shewing them, that all gone before of mine, as well as all that are yet to come, are alike-interested in it. Precious Lord Jesus! was this the love of thine heart? And is this the manner of men, O Lord God!
Secondly. Let the Church of the faithful here learn, from Peter, that we do not follow cunningly devised fables. We know the power, and coming also, of our Lord Jesus Christ! We are now witnesses, heart-witnesses of his majesty, and the sovereignty of his grace, and shortly shall be eye-witnesses of his glory. Oh! the blessedness of regeneration, which brings with it the earnest of the Spirit.
Thirdly. Let the Church seek for grace, everlastingly to keep in remembrance this precious testimony of our Christ's own personal glory, It is Christ's person, which is the great object of our faith. All our high hopes of everlasting happiness and joy are centered in Him. He is our hope our joy, our confidence. And, if we are witnesses now to the power and coming of his grace, we shall in due time be witnesses of his divine presence, in glory. Beloved! saith John, (and every new-born child of God may say the same), now are we the sons of God. And it doth not yet appear what we shall be, but we know that when he shall appear, we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. 1 John 3:9.