I. When Jesus thus revealed Himself on the Mount of Transfiguration, He may be said to have taken, by anticipation, so much of that Divine glory with which He is now adorned, in heaven, as would call forth the wonder and admiration, without confounding the faculties, of the beholders.
II. The transfiguration of our Lord afforded a powerful attestation to His Divine character, and the truth of His mission to the world. Moses and Elias would never have appeared to support the pretensions of an impostor.
III. Moreover, the same wondrous transformation on Mount Tabor placed beyond a doubt the fact of the soul's immortality and the resurrection of the body. Not only did the face of the Saviour shine as the sun, and His raiment become white and glistering, but Moses and Elias, also, appeared with Him in glory. What was this but a representation and pledge of the final blessedness of the redeemed. St. Martin of Tours was once meditating in his cell, when a radiant form appeared to him, with a jewelled crown on His head, a countenance resplendent with glory, and with a manner so impressive that it seemed to demand homage and love. The heavenly vision said to St. Martin, "I am Christ; worship Me," and the legend goes on to say that the saint looked upon this glorious form in silence, then gazed upon the hands and asked, "Where is the print of the nails?" Forthwith the vision departed, and St Martin knew that it was the crafty tempter. The same question, Where is the print of the nails? will relieve many an anxious doubt, and reveal the way of duty.
IV. There are times in the history of God's children, when, the brightest visions having faded away, like the disciples in the text, "they saw no man any more, save Jesus only with themselves." Can there possibly be a happier or more sustaining thought than this? The little word only reminds us, that we need not be afraid for ten thousands of the people that have set themselves in array against us, if Jesus be our Friend. Each trusting heart may claim Him, as if no one else shared in His all-perfect love.
J. N. Norton, Golden Truths,p. 312.
References: Mark 9:8. J. M. Neale, Sermons in a Religious House,p. 440. Mark 9:9-32. W. Hanna, Our Lord's Life on Earth,p. 264.Mark 9:10. J. Baldwin Brown, Christian World Pulpit,vol. viii., p. 360; J. B. Heard, Ibid.,vol. xxiii., p. 260. Mark 9:14-29. H. M. Luckock, Footprints of the Son of Man,p. 197. Mark 9:15. Spurgeon, Evening by Evening,p. 241.