Luke 9:30 Commentary and Bible Study

Why were Moses and Elijah there? It is plain they were recognized by Peter and the others, but how were they recognized? Peter is completely beside himself. So overawed is he, that he makes a comment which is close to delirium. It shows however that he plainly recognized the two men, Moses and Elijah. How did he do that? They belonged to generations previously; he had never seen them alive. Possibly because Moses was carrying his staff, his famous staff. Possibly because Elijah had his famous mantle. But no, this was more than physical recognition. These disciples were given to know and identify these men by the Spirit of God. It was plain and it was obvious to them who they were looking at. But why these two men? Why are two glorified men, long since dead, in the heavens, brought into this scene by the power of God? Moses was, under God, the great law giver and prophesied of Christ. And Elijah represents the order of prophets who looked to the Messiah, who prophesied when he would come, who described his coming and his suffering and his death. Together they stand for the law and the prophets. The meaning is plain. It is that they are going to discuss the death of the Lord Jesus Christ and his sacrifice which they had so keenly anticipated during their lives. They are not going to plan the death of the Lord Jesus Christ; there is nothing to discuss with regard to the details; the details of the death of Christ are all in the hands of God. They had already been planned since before the foundation of the world. It had already been arranged by God on high that Christ his Son would come down out of heaven into time. The precise moment had been planned. All the circumstances of how he would eventually go to a cross and take upon himself the full guilt of all those who would be redeemed, and how he would suffer and bear away their sin. Then what were they discussing? They were discussing Calvary to prepare the disciples. These disciples had walked with Christ. They loved him. They believed he was the Messiah, and yet they were very slow to grasp that he must suffer and die on a cross. Partly, naturally, it was because they loved him, and they didn't want to accept that very soon everything must be thrown into turmoil, and he must be delivered up and crucified. So the news was broken to them gradually. Another reason why they were slow was because Judaism in those days had stopped teaching this. The teaching among the Jews was that when Christ came, he would be a great political leader. They had ignored Isaiah 53 and all those great passages from the prophets, which showed how Christ must come and suffer and die an atoning, substitutional death on Calvary. They had put all that to one side, and the disciples naturally were children of their age, and in following Christ they were still deeply affected by this teaching: that he was going to eventually become a great political leader. As you read the Gospels you find repeatedly that he trains them to change their view, and brings them to see that they have got to be prepared for his sufferings and death. But they didn't quite understand the significance of it; not until it happened. So the transfiguration was one of the events which prepared them for what was to come. As they look at him, transfigured, glorious, majestic, revealing something of his mighty godhead and power, they see the representative of the prophets speaking with him concerning his sufferings and his death. It is so that the disciples won't be distraught when it happens.