2 Kings 2:1-12
Charles Swindoll (The Tale of the Tardy Oxcart, p. 318) quotes Charles Spurgeon: “I might have been terrified if I had been Elisha walking with Elijah when the horse of fire and the chariots of fire came to take him away.” The transfiguration of Jesus was not to be a terrible or frightening event. Elijah was changed enough to be taken up in a heavenly chariot, but Christ was changed in appearance to reflect the glory and presence of heaven itself.
Elijah’s preaching was affirmed by his actions. Reading through 1 and 2 Kings, one is struck by Elijah’s condemnation of leaders who opposed God and how he stood his ground for God. Though royalty wanted him dead, God wanted him alive. His continued stance for God and purity of heart for the job got him into the whirlwind of a charity where he was transfigured and ascended into heaven by the authority of God himself.
Someday, according to scripture, those who have stood for God will also be taken from this world ? not in the way Elijah was, but we will be in the same place where he journeyed that day so many years ago.
Derl K.
2 Kings 2:1-12
It is not clear why Elijah doesn’t want Elisha to follow him. It might have been fear of danger or it might have been a desire to keep his trip secret. The text never says. The important thing is that Elisha disobeys. And it might be added that Elijah doesn’t keep him from coming, nor does he scold him.
Elisha wants to be a faithful follower of Elijah and doesn’t want to be left behind, no matter what he might face by following. There is a difference between a suggestion given to protect someone and a command.
We had friends who wanted to perform a ministry in China a few years ago when China was going through some struggles (when isn’t it?). They were warned not to go there, but they went anyway and had a great ministry teaching classes of children and adults. They survived and even returned to their ministry there a year later.
A pastor in Philadelphia was warned about attempting a ministry to the street gangs in South Philly. He ignored the warnings and had a great ministry that brought many youth into the churches in his area. One of those boys joined that church. He was told by the gang leader not to try to win any converts or he might be hurt. He disobeyed and brought in two more to the church. The advice was good and had a point, but God must have overruled this warning as he did with Elijah’s warnings.
When Elijah is finally preparing to end his ministry and depart to be with his Lord, he promises Elisha that he will be taking his place. He sees Elijah perform the miracle in the water and humbly asks that God give him twice the spirit of Elijah. Since he sees Elijah being carried up in the chariot, he gets his wish. Elisha is not asking just to inflate his ego. He thinks he will need twice the spirit to do the things Elijah had done. He is eager to serve and wants to do a good job.
An important pastor from South Africa visited the mission field in southeast Asia and found the church growing there. One reason it was growing is that the local people saw them do miracles. One was to hit the water at a river which had a bridge wiped out by flooding. They were able to walk across on the water without sinking in. That was a key factor in winning the people to Christ. It is only in our country that we have trouble believing in miracles.
The disciples were also given power to perform miracles like Jesus. The secret is to have faith that all things are possible to those who believe. Ask and ye shall receive. God has given me miraculous experiences even when I had doubts, so be sure to ask first. God is the one who gives us the gift of faith.
Bob O.
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Thomas Jefferson believed that the ethical system of Jesus was the finest the world has ever seen, though he sought to separate ethical teachings from religious dogma and other supernatural elements that are intermixed in the accounts of Jesus’ life provided by the four gospels. He presented his selected teachings, along with the essential events of the life of Jesus, in one continuous narrative. The abridgement, originally titled The Life and Morals of Jesus of Nazareth, is now commonly known as The Jefferson Bible. Describing his synthesis, Jefferson wrote in a letter to Charles Thomson, secretary of the Continental Congress and a signer of the Declaration of Independence, that it was “a paradigma of [Jesus’] doctrines, made by cutting the texts out of the book and arranging them on the pages of a blank book, in a certain order of time or subject. A more beautiful or precious morsel of ethics I have never seen.” Jefferson told John Adams, the first vice-president of the United States, that he was rescuing the philosophy of Jesus and the “pure principles which he taught” from the “artificial vestments in which they have been muffled by priests, who have travestied them into various forms as instruments of riches and power for themselves.” After having selected from the evangelists “the very words only of Jesus,” he believed “there will be found remaining the most sublime and benevolent code of morals which has ever been offered to man.”
Application: Paul realized that the scriptures can bring us the light of knowledge, but we must guard against what Jefferson did by being selective of the knowledge we apply to our lives.
Ron L.
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
John Wesley notes that God who is our light is not just the author of light, but its fountain (Commentary on the Bible, p. 524). John Calvin argues (with reference to the darkness that the light of Christ overcomes) that “...the blindness of unbelievers detracts nothing from the clearness of the gospel; for the sun is not less resplendent, that the blind do not perceive its light” (Calvin’s Commentaries, Vol. XX/2, p. 192).
Darkness (and sin) has no chance when the light is turned on, when the glorified Christ enters the darkness of our lives.
Mark E.
Mark 9:2-9
When I was called to one of my pastoral assignments several years ago, I was unaware that the church was under a lawsuit. Prior to my arrival the church operated a daycare and there had been an incident where one of the children was injured. During a seven-year time period the case was passed from one court to another until it landed in federal court in Chicago. I received a call from the insurance company that was handling the case, who told me that I was to be at the federal courthouse. The insurance company had hired an attorney who would meet me at the courthouse on a certain day in December as the jury trial would begin.
I had never been involved in a trial. I was amazed at the number of witnesses both sides produced. Some of them were “expert witnesses” paid by one side or the other to tell specific details. Fortunately for the church, it won the case after two weeks of testimony and a one-hour deliberation of the jury.
On the mountaintop of Mount Hermon Peter, James, and John became expert witnesses of the event we call the “Transfiguration of Jesus.” According to the scriptures, the garments Jesus was wearing became glistening as if they were the gleam of burnished brass or gold or of polished steel or of the golden glare of the sunlight (William Barclay). Moses, the lawgiver, and Elijah, the greatest of the prophets, stood with Jesus and talked with him. We do not have the words they spoke, but we can conjecture that they were encouraging him to continue his journey to the cross, for all of history was leading up to it. Then a cloud appeared, symbolic of the very presence of God, and covered him, and the voice of God came from the cloud: “This is my Son whom I love. Listen to him” (Mark 9:7 NIV).
Barclay commented on this event: “What they saw on the mountain of the Transfiguration would give them something to hold on to, even when they could not understand.... It made them in a special sense witnesses of the glory of Christ... when the time came, they had the story of this glory to hide in their hearts and to tell to men (all people)” (The Daily Study Bible ? Mark, p. 217).
We who have seen the glory of God in our own lives and have been transformed have become in a very real sense his witnesses. Just like the disciples, we have the opportunity to witness to our world the glory of Christ.
Derl K.
Mark 9:2-9
Our text doesn’t say why, but I have always wondered why Andrew was not also invited. James and John were brothers and both were invited, but Peter’s brother was not; yet it was Andrew who brought his brother to Jesus. The thing that amazes me most is that Andrew was not upset and didn’t want to leave the gang. He remained a faithful follower. That might be a lesson for us, though it is not in our text.
When the three he chose and Jesus were on the mountain, they saw an amazing sight. Jesus was transformed before them. Elijah and Moses were picked to join him. Moses represented the law and Elijah the prophets, but we aren’t sure why they were picked, except that the law and the prophets were the two areas most often tied together.
We aren’t sure why Jesus’ clothes were washed, except to show how pure he was. There are many passages in scripture that are not explained. Sometimes God will reveal them to someone, but we have to be careful of some Bible scholars who search to make wild guesses. We don’t know! So wait until God shows us.
Poor Peter! He misses the point. He immediately wants to build three booths. He fails to see that Jesus must be the center and not bring him down to the level of others who can’t be compared. Some try to put mother Mary up there with Jesus and build chapels for her. We dare not put anyone equal with the Savior. God had to set him straight by telling Peter, “Just shut up and listen to my son!”
Let us never put anything above or even equal with Christ. He is above the law and prophets. He is only equal with the Father.
Bob O.
