Matthew 17:7-13 What goes up, must come down
Format for Your Devotions
Instructions: Do not read my example devotion until you have completed your own devotional time in the scriptures. Reading my thoughts first may limit your own understanding. Let the Holy Spirit speak to you alone before looking to see what anyone else has to say, whether it is me, a Bible commentary, or a friend. Let God speak to you before you let another person speak to you. I have provided a format, but modify it to fit your needs. For example, I usually combine my application and prayer together talking to God about the application to my own life. You can go through this devotion process mentally, speaking out loud, or in writing as you wish. Don’t worry if you are not following this process exactly. Sometimes, I add extra information and sometimes I emphasize one part more than others. However, you should always think about what you learn about God from this passage.
Step 1: Pray–Ask for the Holy Spirit’s guidance first of all and that God may reveal the lessons that He wants you to have that day. Request that God protect you from Satan’s distractions (and the devil will try to distract you whether it is pinching the baby or putting you to sleep). Ask to see God more clearly as you read and think about the passage.
Step 2: Read the passage–Read to get an overview of the information first. Then start looking at specific parts after the first reading. You may read a larger or smaller section than I have here because you do not have to follow my organization at all.
Step 3: Understand the passage–You can summarize, ask and answer your own questions about the passage, visualize the story, analyze the characters, and relate this passage to other scriptures and personal experiences.
Step 4: What does this reveal about God?–What do you learn about the Father, Son, and/or Holy Spirit from this passage?
Step 5: Apply this to your own life.
Step 6: Prayer
My Example Devotion: May 7, 2019 Matthew 17:7-13
Note: In the devotion examples, I leave my questions and thought processes in the text because I am trying to demonstrate that a devotional time is a dialogue with God about what you are reading from His word. As such, any questions or ideas that you have should be explored by talking it out with God. These example devotions are not my attempts to teach you what the meaning of a particular scripture is. They are an attempt to teach you the process of devotions, which is a combination of prayer and Bible study where you explore ideas with God as you read His word.
But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Rise, and have no fear.” And when they lifted up their eyes, they saw no one but Jesus only. And as they were coming down the mountain, Jesus commanded them, “Tell no one the vision, until the Son of Man is raised from the dead.” And the disciples asked him, “Then why do the scribes say that first Elijah must come?” He answered, “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things. But I tell you that Elijah has already come, and they did not recognize him, but did to him whatever they pleased. So also the Son of Man will certainly suffer at their hands.” Then the disciples understood that he was speaking to them of John the Baptist.
(Revelation of God) What I know: Jesus knew that He was going to be transfigured at least six days before the time. He knew that He was going to take some of His disciples with Him and that they would witness the event. The transfiguration happened as Jesus was praying. Moses and Elijah were visible to the disciples. Moses and Elijah appeared in glory. They spoke of Jesus going to Jerusalem. The Father’s voice was audible to the disciples, and the cloud that covered His glory was visible to them. The presence of the Father struck them down with fear, but the transfigured Christ and glorified humans were not struck down. Later, in Revelation the glorified Jesus does strike John down in fear. They fall on their faces to the ground out of fear and do not know when the glorified humans and the cloud leave.
What I speculated: This might have been part of some ceremony or evaluation to show the universe that Jesus had not been corrupted as a human. He was sinless. I am probably way off base here, but I will investigate more.
(Understanding the Text) What I learned from the SDA commentary: I understood from the commentary that they started out in the morning and climbed all day to the top of the mountain. In the evening, Jesus began praying as the three rested nearby. The prayer lasted long enough for the night dew to make Jesus’ clothes wet. However, I think I misunderstood because when I read DA, it said that it was about the time of sunset that they set out and that part of the journey happened during the dark (page 419.1). Thus, it was probably around 5:00 when the four men separated from the other nine to begin their mountain climb. The transfiguration happened near the morning. The purpose of having the three disciples there with Jesus to see the transfiguration was to strengthen them and give them the power to face Gethsemane. When the Father said “listen to Him” He was trying to get the disciples to pay attention to the message that Jesus was trying to tell them about His death and resurrection.
New thought: Maybe Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him on special occasions because they were dominant in the group and He needed them to understand that there should be no domination among the twelve, but rather humble service for each other.
Jesus tells the disciples to get up and not fear, and when they do, there is no one around. DA says that they had spent the entire night on the mountain and that it was dawn when the four men descended to the bottom. It says that they were quiet most of the way down thinking about what had happened. When they reached the foot of the mountain where the other disciples and a crowd were gathered, Jesus told the three men not to tell anyone about their experience until after His resurrection. DA says that this was because the people and the other disciples would not have been able to comprehend the significance of what had happened until after the resurrection and that the three disciples themselves didn’t understand at that time either. The reaction of hearing about it would have either been idle curiosity or ridicule. Either reaction was wrong. The transfiguration was too important and needed to be pondered.
The disciples had a lot to think about as they come down the mountain. They had seen confirmation of Peter’s statement of faith that Jesus is the Son of God. They had seen and heard two men who were their heroes and in some ways mythological characters from the past. Moses was the Father of their religion. He was the final arbiter of any questionable activity in their lives. Elijah had ascended to heaven in a fiery chariot, but more importantly the prophecy said that Elijah would precede the Messiah. They had just seen Elijah there on the mountain. Was he going to miraculously appear again as a herald to triumphantly announce the Messiah before all the Jews? DA confirms this idea. “The disciples are confident that Moses and Elijah have been sent to protect their Master, and to establish His authority as king” From <https://m.egwwritings.org/en/book/130.2042#2058>. Jesus nips that thought in the bud by telling them that John the Baptist was the Elijah that preceded the Messiah, and he was rejected by the leaders, imprisoned, and murdered. There would be no miraculous acceptance of the Messiah by the leaders because Elijah came to herald His coming.
Jesus tells the disciples to tell no one about the transfiguration until after His resurrection. After explaining about John the Baptist, He says that He will receive the same kind of treatment from the Jewish leaders. Why didn’t the disciples remember all of this during the crucifixion and the days that followed? (1) Shock. The reality of what happened was overwhelming and real. They watched their invincible Master get beat up, whipped, mocked, and crucified. It was a reality that they couldn’t accept even while they couldn’t deny it. (2) Shame. Peter’s betrayal would have affected not only himself but John also. Peter was John’s buddy, hero, friend, and leader more than he was anyone else’s. John was young and watching the older man who he looked up to and who he followed everywhere deny their beloved Master would have seemed like a betrayal of John himself. The two men were together when Mary Magdalene told them about the empty tomb, so they had to have made some kind of reconciliation on Sabbath. (3) Responsibilities. John was taking care of Jesus’ mother Mary and some of the other women. He had witnessed more of Jesus’ humiliation than any other disciple. He had to have been traumatized because he was not old enough yet to be calloused by life. Too many emotions were swirling around in him to be able to sort them out, especially without the maturity of an older man. All things considered, John did remarkably well providing emotional support for Mary and Peter. James is a mystery. Where was he when all of this took place? The Bible does not tell us. How did he react? Again, we don’t know.
Jesus makes a comment that I don’t understand. Before He says that Elijah has already come, He uses the future tense to say that Elijah will come. “Elijah does come, and he will restore all things.” This tense seems to indicate a separate coming and restoration than the John the Baptist coming. Elijah’s message is about restoring the worship of God back to what it should have been originally. According to Gary Venden, there are three Elijah messages: the original Elijah, John the Baptist, and a final Elijah message given by the church before Jesus comes. If Jesus is referring to this last message in this future tense statement, then the last cry is not just the Sabbath truth or the sanctuary truth but a total truth about trusting God and following His whole law. It is about God’s character and how we should worship Him. It is about getting rid of all the lies. We have a long way to go. I need to study this comment more.
(Application / Prayer) My application for myself is that I need to be so connected to Jesus that I can hear His voice guiding me even in the middle of trouble and trials when everything seems to be going haywire and all my expectations are dashed. I need to know Him and trust Him and listen to Him so that I can comfort others when their faith is low like John did. I don’t know how successful John was, but I know that he was where he should be, doing what he should do, when his world was falling apart. I know that in this war I am living in on this planet, the world will always be falling apart around me. All I can do is be where I’m supposed to be when it happens. I pray to trust You so that I can stand where You place me and witness Your work. I pray to not fail to be where You want me to be even when the world around me is falling apart. I can’t put the world back together. I can’t solve people’s problems, but I can go where You tell me to go and stand.