Moses, Elijah, and Christ

He took Peter, John, and James and went up on the mountain to pray. 

And while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, and His clothing became white and glistening. 

And behold, two men were talking with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appearing in glory were talking about His decease which He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.

But they kept silent, and reported to no one in those days any of the things they had seen. Luke 9:28-31,36.

Three Disciples

Jesus took Peter, James, and John. 

Note:

• that before Christ called these three they were a group of fishermen. 
• that these three were Christ's first disciples.  
• Some think that Christ took them along with Him on to the mountain because they were the three most likely to get into trouble, so He kept them close so He could keep a close eye on them. Guzik.  

I have trouble believing that after three years of intense preparation to be rulers in Christ's kingdom His disciples would still need a chaperone.

The Change

while He was praying, the appearance of His face became different, His clothing became white and glistening. Luke 9:29.  
Matthew wrote it like this: and He was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His clothes became as white as the light. Mat 17:2.

Among those who believe that Christ is the second person of "The Godhead" are some who say that it was all that Christ could do to hide His divinity.  At times it just about shone through against His wishes. With the rays of glory and brightness which darted from his body through his clothes. Gill.

This was not a new miracle, but the temporary pause of an ongoing miracle. The real miracle was that Jesus, most of the time, could keep from displaying His glory. Guzik.

About these man-made ideas, Barnes writes: The Scriptures should be taken just as they are, without any attempt to affix a meaning to them which the sacred writers did not intend. Barnes.

So, if Jesus is God, how is it that only most of the time He could do what He wanted to do.  According to Guzik, this time Christ fell short of His intentions.

We might remind ourselves that when Moses descended the mountain after meeting with Jehovah his face also shone.  it happened as Moses was going down from the mountain of Sinai ... Moses did not know that the skin of his face had become luminous through His speaking with him.  Exodus 34:29. 

If the shinning of Christ's face and clothing prove that He is divine, simple logic would insist that Moses, therefore, is also God.

As we have been studying the life of Christ we have seen and will continue to see, that Christ does not come across as being divine.  

• Physically - He got tired and sleepy; He was the first one to fall asleep on the fishing boat. Mark 4:38.                                                                      
• Intellectually - He had limited knowledge and intelligence. But concerning that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels of heaven, but My Father only. Mat. 24:36.                                                                            
• Socially - He got upset with His peers because they did not believe His mission was from God. O unfaithful and perverted generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear (put up) with you? Mat. 17:17.

Why do so many in the church insist that Christ is "God Himself" when the Bible clearly teaches that He had limitations, which we have been told, God does not have?

Why The Transfiguration

And behold, two men were talking with Him, who were Moses and Elijah.

My thesis is that Christ's clothing became white because Moses and Elijah were being beamed down from a spaceship above them and that the light from the spaceship fell on Christ.

"To help us understand this picture better, let us take a short excursion into the realm of TV science fiction."

"If the crew of a spaceship needs to move a person from one place to another, that person can be ‘beamed up’ or ‘beamed down’. As the person being moved “dematerializes”, he becomes altogether bright. When that person ‘materializes’ again he loses his brightness. This, in science fiction, can be done without causing any harm to living cells. Does this really seem too wild to accept in real life? 

Remember, That which was impossible yesterday becomes possible today and tomorrow we will wonder why we ever thought it impossible." God Drives a Flying Saucer. (1969) Dione. Copied from:                                http://spaceshiptheology.blogspot.ca/2016/10/145-christs-coming-kingdom.html

Now, about 50 years later, a corollary to the preceding paragraph might sound something like this. It is therefore not surprising that the recent announcement that Chinese scientists teleported an object from the ground to a space satellite has engendered so much attention. Article headlines like "First object teleported to Earth's orbit" are pretty exciting. Taken literally, you could imagine not only visiting exotic locations across the globe in a blink of an eye, but also imagine an enormous advance in space technology. cnn.com

"when Christ was transfigured, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias (Elijah) talking with him. Mat. 17:3.  These two witnesses stand before the God of the whole earth and they come to the New Jerusalem to preach; they have magnificent powers.  However, they must die again; the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will ... kill them. Rev. 11:7.  Just as surely they will be raised to life again; And after three days and a half, a spirit of life from God entered into them, and they stood on their feet. Rev. 11:11.  For more about these two witnesses I suggest:                    

http://ikefehr1939.blogspot.ca/2013/05/the-two-witnesses.html

The Purpose Of The Visit

two men were talking with Him, who were Moses and Elijah, who appearing in glory were talking about His decease which He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem.

It sounds as if Moses and Elijah came to bring Christ the final instructions, and perhaps a lot of encouragement, concerning His last few months on earth and perhaps they verified to Him that He, indeed, must be crucified just outside the walls of Jerusalem.

His decease which He was about to accomplish in Jerusalem. One does not normally think of dying as an accomplishment, however, in Christ's case His death was a great accomplishment.  It is because Christ died that our sins can be forgiven and we can appear as righteous in Jehovah's eyes.

And as they came down from the mountain, He commanded them that they should relate to no one the things they had seen, till the Son of Man should rise from the dead. Mark 9:9.  Christ ordered them not to talk to anyone about what they had seen until after His resurrection.  

Luke tells us that they followed His command, But they kept silent and reported to no one in those days any of the things they had seen.  

A Treasured Life is a Waste

Then Jesus said to His disciples, "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me. 

For whoever desires to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of Me shall find it. 

For what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul? Or what will a man give as an exchange for his soul? 

For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and then He will render to each according to his works. 

Assuredly I say to you, there are some standing here who will by no means taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom." Mat. 16:24-28.

Christ, our Example

If anyone desires to come after Me.  The choice belongs to the human. Jehovah's act of predestination will not decide for anyone whether or not he or she will follow Christ.

Let him deny himself; Some in the church have taught that if we will follow Christ we must give up all pleasures; deny ourselves everything except the barest essentials to stay alive. If we do that we become useless in this life and probably not fit for the next.

That Christ enjoyed some of the pleasures of life is shown by the fact that he enjoyed the companionship of friends; both male and female.  He enjoyed going to public affairs, and while there, being of some service.  He enjoyed eating and drinking so well that those that hated Him even accused Him of being a glutton and a tippler.

As society changes, so do the pleasures of life.  Christ never needed to ask Himself "what may I watch on TV" but, in this situation, we can always ask ourselves, "What would Jesus watch?"  It is safe to surmise that the shows He would watch would not include violence or blasphemy!

let him ... take up his cross, and follow Me.  For some who take a stand for Christ, the situation may arise where they are publicly shamed, tortured or even killed.  To them, Christ says, follow my example.

Death to Self is Essential

whoever desires to save his life shall lose it, but whoever loses his life on account of Me shall find it.  This is the irony of life.  If we hang on to what we have we cannot go any further but to the extent that we give ourselves in the service to others, we ourselves find a new reason to live.

Christ said unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. John 12:24.   Without dying to our own selfish desires we will never bear the fruit of service to others and consequently never attain our potential.  Our pastors have taught us that in order to follow Christ we must learn religious words and know when to say them; Christ's idea of true Christianity was much more "hands-on".

Here is an interesting biological fact: Before a crawling caterpillar can become a gorgeous butterfly the caterpillar in the cacoon must completely change into a soupy mess.  To all appearances, it has become totally and forever wasted.

However, out of that seemingly deranged mess emerges a butterfly which can still remember exactly on which milkweed it began as a butterfly one generation ago.  The point of the story: death to self-precedes a beautiful life.

what is a man profited if he gains the whole world, but forfeits his soul?  If you insist that you will spend your life getting rich, maybe you will or maybe you won't, but in the end, you will have wasted your life for short-range indulgences.

For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels. This is a promise that Christ made many times and the Christian church is looking forward to that event in spite of the fact that it is then that He will render to each according to his works.  Notice again that Christ did not say that we will be rewarded for having the right "statement of faith" or for attending church regularly.   He said that we would be "paid" according to our works.

Will Some Disciples not Die?

there are some standing here who will by no means taste death till they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.  As is usual, in almost all aspects of Bible study, there are a number of different opinions as to what it means:

1. Guzik holds this theory. This refers to Christ's Transfiguration which is the very next episode recorded in the Book of Matthew.  In that story, three of His disciples saw Him in His kingdom.  This, however, does not seem like the right interpretation, one reason being, none of His disciples died before that happened but Christ had indicated that some would.                                                                                                       
2. Some say that this happened when Rome destroyed Jerusalem.   And as an emblem of this, there are some here who shall live to see the Messiah coming to set up his mediatorial kingdom, with great power and glory, by the increase of his Church, and the destruction of the temple, city, and polity of the Jews. John Wesley.  The old covenant: slaughtering animals as sacrifices, worship in the temple, etc, all came to an end and, with the Jewish religion out of the way, the New Covenant, The Church, could take its place. 
   
   
3. The reference, beyond doubt, is to the firm establishment and victorious progress, in the lifetime of some then present, of that new kingdom of Christ, which was destined to work the greatest of all changes on this earth, and be the grand pledge of His final coming in glory. Jamieson, Fausset, Brown.   According to this theory, this new kingdom would have started on the Day of Pentecost when the spirit of God descended on the earliest Christians and the Church was born.  It did spread rapidly, for a little while, before the last of the disciples had passed away.

Throughout our studies, we have seen that Christ preached the Gospel of the kingdom, here it is surmised that that kingdom is found in the people who decide to accept Christ as their Redeemer; He is the King of that kingdom.  For behold, the kingdom of God is among you." Luke 17:21.  Or, as the KJV has it, the kingdom of God is within you. 

                                                 

From Biblical history, we know that Judas was dead before the day of Pentecost.

The Perfect Gift

Christ's Conception

There are at least three different theories concerning the immaculate conception of Christ.  This, of course, excludes those theories that say the story is based on lies, or that Mary was not aware of, or did not admit, her past activities. 

1. The word used for the first theory is parthenogenesis, this is simply the Greek way of saying virgin birth. 

This theory simply states that a female body has all the chemicals needed to produce a child by itself.  "So, while it is possible for a human baby to be born of a virgin mother, it's very, very unlikely..."  The writer placed the likelihood of that happening at much less than one in a billion. [From the blog: "Slate", by Melinda Wenner Mayer.]

If many of the lower species can and do conceive Parthenogenetically, I don't think it's too shocking to assume that humans can too. Based on this fact alone I can't imagine why scientists are not more curious like they were over a hundred years ago when the famous biologist, Jacques Loeb realized that: "The male is not necessary for reproduction. A simple physio-chemical agent in the female is enough to bring it about. [From, PARTHENOGENESIS: women’s long-lost ability to self-conceive by Den Poitras]  For more on this topic, I recommend his blog.

Theologians have, ever since the days of Saint Paul, argued that sin entered the human race through Adam, not through Eve.  He wrote, Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world. Rom. 5:12.  Eve was deceived, and so, not at fault, but Adam knew what he was doing, therefore he is to blame.  Isn't it reasonable then, to argue that if a child is born of a virgin, that child would not be burdened with all the negative aspects imparted by a sinful human father?

2. The teaching that the church has held for about twenty centuries.   The holy spirit came upon the virgin, Mary, and she became pregnant.  Mary asked the visiting angel, “How can this happen? I am not married!” The angel answered, The Holy Spirit will come down to you, and God’s power will come over you. So your child will be called the holy Son of God. Luke 1:33-35

That teaching leads us directly into the third theory I am presenting here.

3. The idea that the gods had offspring with human women is a recurring thought in ancient writings.  It is found in Greek mythology, in Babylonian and Egyptian writings as well as in the Bible.  When the sons of the gods had sexual intercourse with the daughters of men, the Bible tells us, their offspring were mighty men of renown. Gen. 6:4.  A mighty man of renown is not what Jehovah wanted when Christ was born.  He must have a perfect human being.   

He had made a deal with Satan; simply stated, the deal said, either a perfect human must pay the ransom price for the mortal race or none of mankind will have a chance at eternal ecstasy.  Jesus Christ is both a perfect human and the Son of God and so He could fulfil all the requirements laid down by Satan.

The God of the Jews, Jehovah, decided that Mary was a fit candidate to be the mother of Christ.  The Lord, having chosen the young woman from among the Jewish people, sent an angel, whose name was Gabriel.  

It is totally believable that Mary became pregnant through artificial insemination, an act performed by the angel.  In this way, Christ was, in fact, the Son of Jehovah and the son of human lineage.  From reading the story of the conception and birth of Christ, in the Bible, it is easy to arrive at the aforementioned conclusion.

The Magi are Guided

What if you knew what stars looked like but didn't know what an airplane was? What would you call the airplane lights? ... Now, if I were to tell you that last night I saw a set of flashing stars that moved across the sky, what would you say? Would you agree that they were stars, or would you tell me that I really saw an airplane?

... Remember, the wise men knew what stars were, but probably didn't know what UFOs were: 

ttp://www.thelightside.org/EARSite/ears_ufos_biblefiles3.html

At the time that Christ was born, as was normal, there were shepherds looking after their sheep, out in the fields.  At night, while they were watching their flocks, the light from a UFO shone all around them.  The shepherds were afraid of the spacecraft, so one of the Lord’s robots came closer to them and said, do not be afraid, this UFO has not come to hurt you. I bring you good news of great joy, which will come to all people. Luke 2:10

Here, suddenly, a new stage is set.  The focal point is no longer, The Lord of Israel.  The new theme is, peace on earth; great joy shall be to all people (nations), for Jesus, the Lord of Peace, is not a national god as were the gods of the UFOs.  He is the Son of Jehovah, who later will pay the penalty required by Satan, the god of this world. 2 Cor. 4:4.

Jehovah wanted the whole world to become involved with His Son, The Messiah. The Romans were involved, for they had the military rule of Judea at that time. The Greeks, the intellectuals, were always looking for a new story to write or argue about, and they heard about the Messiah naturally, in the course of their activities.  The Jews, being kin to the mother of Christ, were involved because of that.  One class of people needed to be called to the scene; the mystics; the astrologers from the East.

The wise men of the East, as would be expected, responded to the new light in the sky; a light moving from the East to the West.  They decided to follow the "star", and when they arrived at their destination, the light shone down on a stable in Bethlehem.

Some scholars believe that since Jupiter and Saturn were in conjunction at that time they appeared to be a bright star.  That light certainly cannot have been from normal "stars" or planets (even if they were in conjunction).  How can stars shine down on one particular spot in any one city? 

The same argument must be used against the idea that the light was from a meteor; a meteor does not shine down on only one small area.  Neither does a meteor journey slowly enough for the wise men to follow it.  The people who advance these hair-brained opinions surely cannot have thought very carefully about the ideas they present.

We may as well speculate that the light was produced by a spacecraft?  It meets all the necessary requirements.  In their past, the Jews had followed a beam of light through the Red Sea and in their wilderness wanderings!

In this case, a UFO could provide a light shining down to guide the Magi. 

• It had the ability to move at the right speed so that the wise men and their camels could keep up with it on their journey of approximately 750 miles. 
• Also, it could wait for them while they needed to stop and rest. 
• It could shine down on any one small town because it was close enough to earth to "spotlight" it. 
• It could direct its beam to any chosen spot in that town: namely the stable in Bethlehem.