Mark 9:1 Commentary and Bible Study

The Lord has spoken of his death and his resurrection, and now he tells the disciples that some of their number – the three who are about to be named – are, within a few days, going to see what all other believers will not see until they have died and passed from this world. This is a sight that belongs to those who love the Lord, but these select disciples will see these wonders without tasing death. It is a heavenly vision. They will see the power of the kingdom of God, and that power is centred in God’s Son, the King of glory. Matthew includes the words, ‘till they see the Son of man coming in his kingdom.’ His power will be seen in that the veil, that normally covered his glory during the incarnation, will be temporarily removed, and it will shine out as in truth it did all the time. He ‘took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men’, but the reality was always that he possessed divine glory. There can be no doubt that it was the transfiguration that Christ was referring to by this statement because all three of the Synoptic Gospels link this announcement with the transfiguration, by pointing out the short time between them.