“Six days later, Jesus took Peter, James, and John with Him and led them aside by themselves to a high mountain. There He was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than any bleaching agent on earth could make them. Elijah appeared to them, along with Moses, and was talking with Jesus. 

Peter spoke up and said to Jesus, “Teacher, it is good for us to be here; let us make three shelters: one for You, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” For he did not know what to say, so great was his fear. A cloud came and cast its shadow over them; and from the cloud a voice was heard, saying, “This is My beloved Son; listen to Him!” Immediately the disciples looked around, and saw no one but Jesus alone with them.”^[1]

The Lord Jesus still performs such miracles today and transforms people’s lives. What the evangelist recounts in these verses is that the Lord Jesus has His own glory and that He came down from that glory to take on human form on earth for our sake. The Lord’s disciples saw many miracles performed by the Lord Jesus—healings, exorcisms, and miracles over nature. Nevertheless, the disciples did not know everything about the Lord Jesus. He was the Son of God who had come to earth. For this reason, the Lord took three disciples with Him, went up the mountain with them, and there they were able to see the true glory of the Son of God. The Lord Jesus took the sins of humanity upon His body on the cross, but He was not merely a man—He was the Son of God clothed in glory.

The disciples’ fear was so great when they saw the Lord’s glory that they did not know what to say. They knew the Lord intimately as a man, but they were filled with awe when they came to know Him as Christ, the Son of God.

The first thing we need to know is that God’s primary attribute is that He is holy and righteous. He has revealed Himself since ancient times as a holy God. When Adam and Eve sinned, the first thing they did was hide, because they were aware that God is holy. That is why they hid, knowing they were deserving of punishment. They were afraid that God might destroy them on the spot because they had sinned. The Lord placed two cherubim with flaming swords at the entrance to the Garden of Eden to guard the garden, because man had sinned and thus, through sin, separation between man and God had come about.

When God revealed Himself to Moses—who was the son of Pharaoh’s daughter—he went into the wilderness and remained there for forty years. The first thing God said to him when He appeared to him in a burning bush was: “Do not come near this place; take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”  And He added, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.”^[2] Moses was afraid to look at Him because God is holy. The only attitude a person can have before Him is to fall face down on the ground. A sinful person cannot stand in the presence of a holy God. On Mount Sinai, traces of the place where the Israelites made a golden calf to worship before it are still visible, for the summit of that mountain is scorched. That mountain stands today as a testimony to God’s holiness. God is love; He is patient and full of kindness, but He is also a Holy God who justly judges all who live in sin.

When the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai, the people of Israel were filled with fear: “All the people heard the thunder and the sound of the trumpet and saw the flames of the mountain, which was smoking. At this sight, the people trembled and stood at a distance. They said to Moses, ‘Speak to us yourself, and we will listen; but let God no longer speak to us, lest we die.’ Moses said to the people: “Do not be afraid; for God has come precisely to test you and to put the fear of Him before your eyes, so that you may not sin.”^[3]

The Lord wants every person to keep His holiness before their eyes so that they may fear Him. The fear of God keeps us from sinning. God is thrice holy, and if we have sin in our lives, we will not be able to stand before Him. Let us not think that God was like this only in the Old Testament, for He is the same yesterday, today, and forever. God calls all who belong to Him to be set apart and to honor Him with pure lives.

The Lord Jesus is also holy. The Lord Jesus says to one of His disciples who had not understood that God dwelt in Him: “Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father. How is it that you say, ‘Show us the Father’?” Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father is in Me? The words I speak to you, I do not speak on My own; but the Father, who dwells in Me—He does His works.”^[4] God was in Christ, reconciling the world to Himself. Peter, James, and John saw Him in all His glory. Peter later writes: “We have indeed made known to you the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, not by relying on cleverly devised myths, but as those who have ourselves seen His majesty with our own eyes. For He received honor and glory from God the Father when a voice came from the magnificent glory above Him, saying, ‘This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.’ And we ourselves heard this voice coming from heaven when we were with Him on the holy mountain.”^[5]

If the disciples who had lived with Him for three and a half years were filled with awe when the Lord revealed His glory to them, what will we do if we do not be reconciled to God? All who saw the glory of the Lord Jesus fell face down before Him, and the apostle John, who had his head resting on the Lord Jesus’ chest, gives this amazing description of the Lord Jesus in the book of Revelation: “I, John, your brother, who share with you in the tribulation, the kingdom, and the patience in Jesus Christ, was on the island called Patmos because of the Word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ. On the Lord’s Day I was in the Spirit. And I heard behind me a loud voice, like the sound of a trumpet, saying, ‘I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last. Write down what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches: to Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.” I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me. And when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands. And in the midst of the seven lampstands, One who looked like the Son of Man, clothed in a robe reaching down to His feet and with a golden sash around His chest. His head and hair were white like white wool, like snow; His eyes were like a flame of fire; His feet were like burnished bronze, as if refined in a furnace; and His voice was like the sound of many waters. In His right hand He held seven stars. From His mouth came a sharp, double-edged sword, and His face was like the sun shining in all its strength.” When I saw Him, I fell at His feet as though dead. He placed His right hand on me and said, “Do not be afraid! I am the First and the Last.”^[6]

     We should all fear the Lord Jesus, because one day we will all see Him in His glory, and if we are not prepared for that encounter, He will not be gracious toward us. If John, who was a close disciple of the Lord Jesus, fell face down before Him as though dead, how will we stand before Him?

“God does not take into account the times of ignorance, but now commands all people everywhere to repent; for He has set a day when He will judge the world with justice, through the Man whom He has appointed for this purpose, and of whom He has given all people an undeniable proof by raising Him from the dead…”^[7] Because He is holy, He commands all people to repent. This is a command that every person on earth should fulfill, and those who refuse to obey His command will die. Most of the time, people see God only as a God of love, but we must first take His holiness into account in order to know His love.

The Gospel begins with our knowledge of God. The good news is that the Son of God became incarnate and came to this earth, cursed because of sin, to give us the gift of eternal life. We must reflect on the moment of our death because we cannot know exactly when God will call our souls back to Him. He breathed life into us, and He alone will reclaim what rightfully belongs to Him. Every person must repent, turn away from their evil ways toward God, and be reconciled with Him while on earth, because once they enter eternity, it will be too late for repentance.

If everything in our lives seems bleak, God is the One who can restore all things, the One who can transform the life of anyone who believes and turns away from their sins to God so that their sins may be forgiven. But after the moment of repentance, Christians must heed the words written by the apostle Peter: “As obedient children, do not conform to the desires you once had when you were in ignorance. But just as the One who called you is holy, so be holy in all your conduct. For it is written: ‘Be holy, for I am holy.’ And if you call upon Him as Father, who judges each person impartially according to their deeds, conduct yourselves with reverence during your time as strangers; for you know that it was not with perishable things—silver or gold— were you redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your fathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, the Lamb without blemish or defect.”^[8]

This is the only way we can enter heaven pure and blameless before the Lord Jesus, by persevering in the sanctification of our lives. The Lord Jesus requires that our lives be pure in every aspect; therefore, sin must be completely eradicated from our lives: theft, lying, sexual immorality, anger, malice, unforgiveness, and many other things of this kind. “Therefore, put away all malice, all deceit, all hypocrisy, all envy, and all slander; and, like newborn infants, long for the pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up into salvation, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is good.”^[9] We must walk carefully in the Lord’s way, always keeping the fear of Him before our eyes so that we do not sin against Him.

Therefore, the process of salvation consists of three parts: the forgiveness of sins, the sanctification of life, and service to the Lord Jesus.

• “Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped away.”^[10]
• “Therefore, beloved, just as you have always been obedient, carry out your salvation with fear and trembling.”^[11]
• “And you, like living stones, are being built up as a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, so that you may proclaim the wonderful deeds of Him whocalled you out of darkness into His marvelous light; you who once were not a people but are now God’s people; you who had not received mercy but have now received mercy.”^[12]

If we fulfill all three of these conditions, then rivers of praise to God will flow from our hearts. This is the Lord’s exhortation to all who desire to follow Him in truth. “Beloved, I urge you, as strangers and pilgrims, to abstain from the desires of the flesh, which wage war against the soul.”^[13] “Flee the desires of youth, and pursue righteousness, faith, love, and peace, along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart.”^[14]

^[1] Mark 9:2–8.

^[2] Exodus 3:5, 6.

^[3] Exodus 20:18–20.

^[4] John 14:9, 10.

^[5] 2 Peter 1:16–18.

^[6] Revelation 1:9–17.

^[7] Acts 17:30, 31.

^[8] 1 Peter 1:14–19.

^[9] 1 Peter 2:1–3.

^[10] Acts 3:19.

^[11] Philippians 2:12.

^[12] 1 Peter 2:5, 9, 10.

^[13] 1 Peter 2:11.

^[14] 2 Timothy 2:22.