He was transfigured before them

Christ told His disciples ‘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’, v. 1. Within one week ‘he was transfigured before them’, v. 2. ‘His clothes became radiant (like ‘a gleam from polished surfaces’, M. R. VINCENT), intensely white, as no one on earth could bleach them’, v. 3 ESV. Thus the transfiguration gave these privileged disciples a temporary, miniature preview of the glory and splendour of Messiah’s coming kingdom.

Moses had reflected the divine glory, Exod. 34. 29-35. Christ’s radiance was the outshining of His intrinsic excellencies. This glory of the Lord will be displayed throughout the millennial kingdom and beyond into the eternal state when ‘the city [will have] no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God [will] lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof’, Rev. 21. 23.

The disciples were ‘aghast by dread’, Mark 9. 6 WYCLIFFE, at the glorious sight. Uncertain of what to say, Peter inadvertently placed the Lord Jesus on an equal footing with Moses and Elijah, ‘Master, it is good for us to be here: and let us make three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias’, v. 5. Peter was, however, quite correct in connecting the feast of tabernacles with the future kingdom, Zech. 14. 16.

The ‘cloud that overshadowed them’ signified the presence of God. Out of this cloud God the Father spoke, ‘This is my beloved Son: hear Him’, Mark 9. 7. Suddenly the vision was over and the disciples ‘saw no man any more, save Jesus only’, v. 8, emphasizing His preeminence.

The disciples responded to this vision of the future kingdom by asking, ‘Why say the scribes that Elias must first come’, v. 11. The Saviour clarified that Elijah will spiritually restore Israel prior to Messiah’s coming, v. 12; see Mal. 4. 5, 6. If the nation had accepted the Lord Jesus as Messiah the kingdom would have been established then. However, since Israel mistreated John and Christ, there now needs to be another forerunner - Elijah himself - before the return of the King to rule.