In chapter 9 the Lord charges the disciples with the same mission in Israel
as that which He Himself fulfilled. They preach the kingdom, heal the sick,
and cast out devils. But this is added, that their work takes the character
of a final mission. Not that the Lord had ceased to work, for He also sent
forth the seventy; but final in this sense, that it became a definite
testimony against the people if they rejected it. The twelve were to shake
off the dust from their feet on leaving the cities that would reject them.
This is intelligible at the point we have reached in the Gospel. It is
repeated, with a yet greater force, in the case of the seventy. We shall
speak of it in the chapter that relates to their being sent forth. Their
mission comes after the manifestation of His glory to the three disciples.
But the Lord as long as He was here continued His exercise of power in
mercy, for it was what He personally was here, and sovereign goodness in
Him was above all the evil He met with.
To go on with our chapter. That which follows verse 7 shews that the fame
of His marvellous works had reached the ears of the king. Israel was
without excuse. Whatever little conscience there was felt the effect of His
power. The people also followed Him. Gone apart with the disciples, who had
returned from their mission, He is soon surrounded by the multitude; again,
their servant in grace, however great their unbelief, He preaches to them
and heals all who needed it.
But He would give them a fresh and very especial proof of the divine power
and presence that was among them. It had been said that in the time of
Israel's blessing from the Lord, when He should make the horn of David to
flourish, He would satisfy the poor with bread. Jesus now does so. But
there is more than this here. We have seen throughout this Gospel that He
exercises this power, in His humanity, by the unmeasured energy of the Holy
Ghost. Hence a marvellous blessing for us, granted according to the
sovereign counsels of God, through the perfect wisdom of Jesus in selecting
His instruments. He will have the disciples do it. Nevertheless the power
that performs it is all His own. The disciples see nothing beyond that
which their eyes can estimate. But, if He who feeds them is Jehovah, He
ever takes His place Himself in the dependence of the nature He had
assumed. He retires with His disciples, and there, afar from the world, He
prays. And, as in the two remarkable cases
[see note #25]
of the descent of the Holy Ghost and the selection of the Twelve, so here
also His prayer is the occasion of the manifestation of His glory-glory
which was due to Him, but which the Father gave Him as man, and in
connection with the sufferings and the humiliation, which, in His love, He
voluntarily underwent.
The attention of the people was excited, but they did not go beyond the
speculations of the human mind with regard to the Saviour. The disciples'
faith recognised without hesitation the Christ in Jesus. But He was no
longer to be proclaimed as such-the Son of man was to suffer. Counsels more
important, a glory more excellent than that of the Messiah, were to be
realised: but it should be through suffering-suffering that, as to human
trials, His disciples were to share by following Him. But in losing their
life for Him, they would gain it; for in following Jesus, the eternal life
of the soul was the question and not merely the kingdom. Moreover He who
was now rejected would return in His own glory, namely, as Son of man (the
character He takes in this Gospel), in the glory of the Father, for He was
the Son of God, and in that of the angels as Jehovah the Saviour, taking
place above them, although (yea as) man: He was worthy of this, for He
created them. The salvation of the soul, the glory of Jesus acknowledged
according to His rights, everything warned them to confess Him while He was
despised and disallowed. Now, to strengthen the faith of those whom He
would make pillars, and through them the faith of all, He announces that
some of them, before they tasted death (they should neither wait for death,
in which the value of eternal life would be felt, nor for the return of
Christ), should see the kingdom of God.
In consequence of this declaration, eight days later He took the three who
afterwards were pillars, and went up into a mountain to pray. There He is
transfigured. He appears in glory, and the disciples see it. But Moses and
Elias share it with Him. The saints of the Old Testament have part with Him
in the glory of the kingdom founded upon His death. They speak with Him of
His decease. They had heretofore spoken of other things. They had seen the
law set up, or had sought to bring the people back to it, for the
introduction of blessing; but now that this new glory is the subject, all
depends on the death of Christ, and on that alone. Everything else
disappears. The heavenly glory of the kingdom and death are in immediate
relationship. Peter sees only the introduction of Christ into a glory equal
to theirs; connecting the latter in his mind with that which they both were
to a Jew, and associating Jesus with it. It is then that the two disappear
entirely, and Jesus remains alone. It was He alone whom they were to hear.
The connection of Moses and Elias with Jesus in the glory, depended on the
rejection of their testimony by the people to whom they had addressed it.
But this is not all. The church, properly so called, is not seen here. But
the sign of the excellent glory, of the presence of God, shews itself-the
cloud in which Jehovah dwelt in Israel. Jesus brings the disciples to it as
witnesses. Moses and Elias disappear, and, Jesus having brought the
disciples close to the glory, the God of Israel manifests Himself as the
Father, and owns Jesus as the Son in whom He delighted. All is changed in
the relationships of God with man. The Son of man, put to death on earth,
is owned in the excellent glory to be the Son of the Father. The disciples
know Him thus by the testimony of the Father, are associated with Him, and,
as it were, introduced into connection with the glory in which the Father
Himself thus acknowledged Jesus-in which the Father and the Son are found.
Jehovah makes Himself known as Father by revealing the Son. And the
disciples find themselves associated on earth with the abode of glory, from
whence, at all times, Jehovah Himself had protected Israel. Jesus was there
with them, and He was the Son of God. What a position! What a change for
them! It is, in fact, the change from all that was most excellent in
Judaism to connection with the heavenly glory, which was wrought at that
moment, in order to make all things new.
[see note #26]
The personal profit of this passage is great, in that it reveals to us, in
a very striking manner, the heavenly and glorious state. The saints are in
the same glory as Jesus, they are with Him, they converse familiarly with
Him, they converse on that which is nearest to His heart-on His sufferings
and death. They speak with the sentiments that flow from circumstances
which affect the heart. He was to die in the beloved Jerusalem, instead of
their receiving the kingdom. They speak as understanding the counsels of
God; for the thing had not yet taken place. Such are the relationships of
the saints with Jesus in the kingdom. For, up to this point, it is the
manifestation of the glory as the world will see it, with the addition of
the intercourse between the glorified and Jesus. The three were standing on
the mountain. But the three disciples go beyond thus. They are taught of
the Father. His own affections for His Son are made known to them. Moses
and Elias have borne testimony to Christ, and shall be glorified with Him;
but Jesus now remains alone for the church. This is more than the kingdom,
it is fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus (not understood,
assuredly, at that time, but now is by the power of the Holy Ghost). It is
wonderful, this entrance of the saints into the excellent glory, into the
Shekinah, the abode of God; and these revelations on God's part of His own
affections for His Son. This is more than the glory. Jesus, however, is
always the object that fills the scene for us. Observe also for our
position down here, that the Lord speaks as intimately of His death to His
disciples on the earth as to Moses and Elias. These are not more intimate
with Him than are Peter, James, and John. Sweet and precious thought! And
mark how thin a veil there is between us and what is heavenly.
[see note #27]
That which follows is the application of this revelation to the state of
things below. The disciples are unable to profit by the power of Jesus,
already manifested, to cast out the power of the enemy. And this justifies
God in that which was revealed of His counsels on the mount, and leads to
the setting aside of the Jewish system, in order to introduce their
fulfilment. But this does not hinder the action of the grace of Christ in
delivering men while He was yet with them, until man had finally rejected
Him. But, without noticing the fruitless astonishment of the people, He
insists with His disciples on His rejection and on His crucifixion;
carrying this principle on to the renunciation of self, and the humility
which would receive that which was least.
In the remainder of the chapter, from verse 46, the Gospel gives us the
different features of selfishness and of the flesh that are in contrast
with the grace and devotedness manifested in Christ, and that tend to
prevent the believer from walking in His steps. Verses 46-48; 49, 50;
51-56, respectively, present examples
[see note #28]
of this; and, from 57 to 62, the contrast between the illusive will of man
and the efficacious call of grace; the discovery of the repugnance of the
flesh, when there is a true call; and the absolute renunciation of all
things, in order to obey it, are set before us by the Spirit of God.
[see note #29]
The Lord (in reply to the spirit that sought the aggrandisement of their
own company on earth, forgetful of the cross) expresses to the disciples
that which He did not conceal from Himself, the truth of God, that all were
in such wise against them that, if any one were not so, he was even thereby
for them. So thoroughly did the presence of Christ test the heart. The
other reason, given elsewhere, is not repeated here. The Spirit, in this
connection, confines Himself to the point of view we are considering. Thus
rejected, the Lord judges no one. He does not avenge Himself; He was come
to save men's lives. That a Samaritan should repulse the Messiah was, to
the disciples, worthy of destruction. Christ came to save the lives of men.
He submits to the insult, and goes elsewhere. There were some who wished to
serve Him here below. He had no home to which He could take them. Meantime,
for this very reason, the preaching of the kingdom was the only thing to
His unwearying love; the dead (to God) might bury the dead. He who was
called, who was alive, must be occupied with one thing, with the kingdom,
to bear testimony to it; and that without looking back, the urgency of the
matter lifting him above all other thoughts. He who had put his hand to the
plough must not look back. The kingdom, in presence of the enmity-the
ruin-of man, of all that opposed it, required the soul to be wholly
absorbed in its interests by the power of God. The work of God, in the
presence of Christ's rejection, demanded entire consecration.
