JESUS PRAYED AT THE TRANSFIGURATION

While in the northern regions of Caesarea Philippi (Matthew 16:13), “Jesus took Peter, James, and John and led them up a high mountain” (Matthew 17:1). Caesarea Philippi was located at the base of Mount Hermon, rising more than nine-thousand feet above sea level. There, far from the crowds that sought Jesus’ touch and teaching, “Jesus was transfigured in front of them” (Mark 9:2).

The Greek word “metemorphothe” is translated “transfigured” (Matthew 17:2; Mark 9:2). From that Greek word, we get the English word metamorphosis describing the transformation of a caterpillar into a butterfly. On the mountain, Jesus was transformed.

“The appearance of his face changed, and his clothes became dazzling white” (Luke 9:29). “His face shone like the sun; his clothes became as white as the light” (Matthew 17:2). “His clothes became dazzling—extremely white as no launderer on earth could whiten them” (Mark 9:2-3).

Jesus’ nature wasn’t changed but unveiled. The three inner-circle disciples saw Jesus as He was, is, and always will be … glorified!

Our faces will never shine like the sun, but we have been transformed, made new, “born again” (John 3:7). Paul reminds us, “if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has passed away, and see, the new has come!” (2 Corinthians 5:17). By His amazing grace, Jesus took the ash-heap of our ruined lives and transformed them into something beautiful (Isaiah 61:3).

Someday, maybe very soon, we’ll behold with our eyes what the disciples saw on the mountain. “Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that when he appears, we will be like him because we will see him as he is” (1 John 3:2).

“… think on these things” (Philippians 4:8, KJV).