Mountains: Find Hope and Vision in God’s PresenceSample

Growing Hopeful When Your Life Is Hard

Today, we see another group of people climbing a mountain and gasping through adversity. The Transfiguration was the mountaintop experience where Jesus showed Peter, James, and John how to deal with distressing circumstances.

One of the ways we can grow hopeful when life is hard is to listen to Jesus. I know it sounds overly simplistic, but if I’m honest, I really struggle to listen to Jesus. In my life, his voice gets crowded out by all the Zoom meetings, chattering kiddos running through the house, Amazon Prime doorbell rings, and the onslaught of advertisements coming my way through social media. Perhaps one of the reasons God positions the Transfiguration on a mountaintop is to move his disciples away from the noise and distractions of their lives...so they can pay attention to only his voice.

In addition to the place, don’t miss the significance of the people—Moses and Elijah—being present with Jesus for the Transfiguration. Just as the mountain backdrop is not random in the Bible, neither is God’s invitation to the two eminent figures from Israel’s history, Moses and Elijah.

As Richard Bauckham so beautifully summarized in his book Who Is God?, we should begin to see some overlap between Jesus, Moses, and Elijah. All of them faced bitter opposition to their ministries and lived through rejection and suffering. But Jesus stands apart as the one whose figure was transformed in front of Peter, James, and John. Jesus was the one identified by God as his Son. And Jesus alone went to the cross for our sins and was raised from the dead to conquer death.

Jesus has a lot in common with Moses and Elijah, but they are not equal.

Jesus explained that he fulfilled the law and the prophets in the Sermon on the Mount, and now, in the Transfiguration, he proves it.

The Transfiguration provided Christ’s disciples with a glimpse of his future glory, a glory that comes to fulfillment in the final New Testament book of the Bible, Revelation. Revelation is written in a genre called apocalyptic literature and is a prophetic letter written by the apostle John to the churches where he had been a leader. At times, the content of John’s visions seems wild, but through it all is an encouragement to be faithful to Christ, knowing that he will be faithful to us. The glory Peter, James, and John got a peek of at the Transfiguration finds its completion in the book of Revelation.

If Mount Eden was about being exiled from God’s presence, and Mount Sinai was about getting back to the foot of the mountain where God is appearing—then the Sermon on the Mount is about going up the side of the mountain with God, and the Transfiguration is seeing God’s glory at the top. All of the Bible points us to the summit of God himself; in the end, Mount Zion is where all believers will be gathered with God to enjoy the new heaven and new earth.

Prayer: God, thank you for the hope that I will one day see you in all of your glory. Until then, give me the faith to cling to your Son, who proved his fulfillment of the law and prophets on the Mount of Transfiguration. May I settle for nothing less than faithfulness to him. In Jesus’ name, Amen.