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Rev. Ronald C. Purkey claims no originality for this Bible study outline.
However,
every outline posted on this website has been taught by Rev. Purkey.
To see more Bible study outlines go
to page two: More Bible Study Outlines.
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THE
TRANSFIGURATION
SCRIPTURE:
INTRODUCTION: I’ve always enjoyed mountain climbing. There's no feeling quite like
arriving at the summit and being able to look back on the long, hard trail that
you have walked to get there -- and to see far off in the distance, cooled by
the breeze that always blows up there. No wonder people use the expression
"mountaintop experience" to refer to those times when we feel
especially close to God.
Three of Jesus' disciples had a genuine
mountaintop experience in
Indeed, every time that I have ever climbed a
mountain, I have always had to climb back down to the valley after all that
exhilaration. The same seems to be true in my spiritual life: whenever I have a
great spiritual "mountaintop experience," something always happens to
bring me back to the "valley" of everyday life, where everyday
problems (and joys) abound.
How wonderful to know that the Lord Jesus to whom
we feel close on the mountaintop is also the Jesus who is with us every day in
the valley.
-- David C. Cook Publishers, Bible-in-Live,
“At the Top”
I. JESUS IS
TRANSFIGURED (Matthew 17:1-3)
The transfiguration of Jesus Christ is
one of the key events in His earthly ministry. This was the only time His
glory, veiled in human flesh, was allowed to shine forth (see
A. The
Participants Of The Transfiguration.
(Matthew 17:1-3)
And after six days Jesus taketh
Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them
up into an high mountain apart, And was transfigured
before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as
the light. And, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with
him. (Matthew 17:1-3)
There were
seven: (1) Christ, (2) Peter, (3) James, (4) John, (5) Moses, (6) Elijah, and
(7) God the Father. Peter, James, and John had three special experiences with
Jesus Christ –here on the mount of transfiguration, in the home of Jairus, and
in the
B. The
Purposes Of The Transfiguration.
1. The Transfiguration was a picture
of the coming kingdom.
Jesus promised
that some of the disciples would not see death until they had seen His kingdom
(Matthew
Peter had just
recently confessed Christ as the Son of God (Matthew
2. The transfiguration assured
believers that the Word of God would stand.
Christ in His
transfiguration assured them that the Word of God would stand and the kingdom
would come. The scene is actually a picture of the kingdom: (1) Christ
glorified, (2) the three apostles representing the redeemed Israel, (3) Moses
representing saints who died in Christ, (4) Elijah representing saints who were
raptured (for Elijah did not die), and (5) the multitudes at the foot of the
mountain representing the other nations.
3. The transfiguration was used to
strengthen Christ for His suffering.
Moses and
Elijah talked with Him about His coming “decease”
(“exodus”) at
II.
THE DISCIPLES
A. Peter Was So Excited At What He Was Experiencing That He Blurted Out A
Plan To Build Three Memorials.
Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it
is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles;
one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. (Matthew 17:4)
1. Simon Peter
could never resist an opportunity to make a speech.
Every occasion was an
good one for him. Peter generally got to his feet to say something, and usually
it was to say the wrong thing -- that is,
until the Day of Pentecost!
2. Simon Peter
should have kept quiet; here it is the wrong thing.
God Himself rebukes Peter, as we shall
see, because he was attempting to place Moses and Elijah on the same plane with
the Lord Jesus. Luke offers the explanation for this indiscretion of Peter’s by
stating, “… not knowing what he said”
(Luke
Jesus was Transfigured
It is helpful to be reminded that the Lord Jesus
is the only one who is being “transfigured” here. Moses and
Elijah have simply appeared. Part of the coming rebuke that follows Peter's
blurted out suggestion may be based, in part, that Peter is putting the Lord
Jesus on the same plane as Moses and Elijah. Although Peter previously
confessed Jesus as the Christ, it could be that he still was
not understanding the supremacy of Christ over all of God's appointed
leaders (even Moses and Elijah). – David C. Cool Publishers, Bible-in-Life
B.
Immediately, A Cloud Overshadowed Them And God Spoke Directly To Peter, James,
And John.
While he yet spake,
behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud,
which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. (Matthew 17:5)
1. This is God
the Father’s testimony to Jesus, the Son.
Jesus is the final authority in
matters of revelation. What Moses, Elijah and the prophets had to say was
wonderful. The writer to the Hebrews says: “God,
who at sundry times and in divers manners spake in time past unto the fathers by the prophets, Hath
in these last days spoken unto us by his Son …” (Heb. 1:1-2). The Son
is the One who came to earth as the final revelation of God to man.
2. Now notice
the great statement by the Father.
“This
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him.” Have you ever
heard a voice out of heaven commending you and saying that God was well pleased
with you? Well, He has never said that to me either. In fact, He has never said
it to anyone but to Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus is the only One who
ever has been well pleasing to God the Father. And you and I well never get
into God’s presence until we are in Christ by faith. When we receive
Christ as our Savior, then we are placed in the body of believers. Christ is
the only One in whom God has been pleased, and we are accepted in the Beloved.
C.
After They Heard The Voice Of God, Moses And Elijah Disappeared Leaving Jesus
As The Center Of Their Attention.
And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their
face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise,
and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their
eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only. (Matthew
17:6–8)
Do you want a good motto for your
life? I suggest these two words: Jesus only. He is the One who is the
authority. I hope you will mark those two words, Jesus only, in your
Bible. They provide a good motto for all of us.
A.
Jesus Instructed Them That They Not Tell Anyone About Their Experience Until
After His Resurrection.
And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus
charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen
again from the dead. (Matthew 17:9)
1. Why wait
until the Resurrection to tell it?
This
is the fifth time in Matthew that the Jesus tells the disciples to be silent
about what they have seen, specifically as those events relate to Jesus'
identity as the Messiah. It’s possible that news of this story may have stirred
up misdirected political support, proclaiming Jesus to be a conquering Messiah.
Also, the most direct "proof" of Jesus' identity would be His
resurrection, so the He instructed [Peter, James, and John] to wait until after
He was raised from the dead to tell the others. One can just picture the three
disciples, sitting around a campfire with others after the Ascension, finally
being able to tell this story. – David C. Cook Publishers, Bible-in-Life
Why should it be told at the time of
the Resurrection? Because it is part of the gospel story. It tells who Jesus
is. He is the perfect Lamb of God. He has been tested for three years, and at
this time He is on the way to the cross to die for the sins of the world. God
required a lamb without blemish, and the Lord Jesus Christ is the only One who
could die a substitutionary death for mankind, because He was sinless. In His
perfect humanity He was transfigured. He is the hope of mankind.
2. Jesus
Christ, the hope of the world.
The hope of mankind is not in science
or education. Both of them are letting us down today. They have created
Frankenstein monsters, and we do not know what to do with them. For example,
they have invented a gasoline automobile in
B.
Jesus Explained That Elijah Came In The Ministry Of John The Baptist And Next
Would Come The Suffering Of The Son Of
And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And
Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore
all things. (Matthew 17:10-11)
1. A
remarkable statement.
Jesus confirms what was said in the
prophecy of Malachi. But I say unto you, That Elias is come
already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed.
Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. (Matthew 17:12)
2. A
reasonable statement.
This raises a question in the minds of
a great many people regarding John the Baptist. Was he really Elijah? What our
Lord is doing in this chapter is trying to anticipate the argument that Jesus
had to die on the cross because John the Baptist was not Elijah -- and Elijah
has to come before Christ returns to establish His kingdom. The Lord Jesus is
saying that if they would receive Him as King, John would be Elijah.
Warren Wiersbe’s Explanation
Coming
down the mountain, the disciples asked about Elijah, referring to the promises
in
3. A
redemptive statement.
“Likewise
shall also the Son of man suffer of them” -- this is the second time the
Lord Jesus mentions His approaching crucifixion. Then the disciples understood that he spake
unto them of John the Baptist.
(Matthew 17:13)
He Put It In
Writing
Two days after
the
Spoken words
can be forgotten, or they can be changed when they are repeated. Written words,
though, aren't dependent on memory, and they can't be easily ignored or
changed.
In the Old
Testament, when God spoke to the people of
Likewise, when
Jesus lived on earth, God gave audible approval of His Son (Matthew 17:5).
John, who saw the transfiguration and heard God's voice from heaven, did not
merely tell others. Under the guidance of God's Spirit, he wrote a book (the
Gospel of John) and three letters (1,2,3 John) so that
all his readers would know truth from error, believe on Christ, and be filled
with joy (1
When we read
God's Word, we too can "hear" God speak. We can begin to learn of His
greatness, glory, and goodness. Are you finding that true? – Dennis J.
De Haan, Our Daily Bread,
CONCLUSION: A valley can be so deep that we do
not see much sunlight at all. On a mountaintop, it is usually easy to see the
sun shining brightly above and around us.
The Lord Jesus shines on the
mountaintops of life, but He is also shining in our valleys as well. Psalm 23:4
reminds us: "Yea, though I walk
through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil: for thou art
with me; thy rod and thy staff they comfort me."
THOUGHT TO
REMEMBER:
“When you open your Bible, ask the Author
to open your heart.”
* * *
REFERENCES: References
used in this Bible study are the Scofield Reference Bible, the Believer’s Bible Commentary, David C. Cook
Publishers Bible-in-Life, Dr. Cliff Robinson Bible Outlines, Dr. Lee Roberson’s
Sermons, KJV Bible Commentary, Our Daily Bread, The Bible Reader’s Companion
Ed. 3, The Nelson Study Bible: New King James Version, Thru the Bible with J.
Vernon McGee, (Warren) Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines of the New Testament Ed.
4, (Warren) Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines of the Old Testament, With the Word
Bible Commentary, Warren Wiersbe’s “Be” Series: Old & New Testaments, and selected illustrations.
E-Mail: Ronald Purkey
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