Ⅵ
What is described in Matthew 16:28—17:5 is a miniature of the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens in the millennium:
A
The center of this miniature is the glorified Jesus, and with Him are Moses and Elijah, representing the Old Testament overcomers, and Peter, James, and John, representing the New Testament overcomers—vv. 1-3.
B
On the mountain with the Lord Jesus, Peter, James, and John had a foretaste of the coming manifestation of the kingdom—16:28—17:3.
C
For the Lord Jesus to be transfigured means that His humanity was saturated and permeated with His divinity; this transfiguration was His glorification—v. 2:
１
The transfiguration, the shining, of the Lord Jesus was His coming in His kingdom; where His transfiguration is, there is the coming of the kingdom—Mark 9:1-4; Luke 9:27-31.
２
The transfiguration of the Lord Jesus was the realization of what He is.
３
The kingdom is the shining of the reality of the Lord Jesus; to be under His shining is to be in the kingdom—Rev. 22:4-5.
４
In the millennium the overcoming believers will be with Christ in the bright glory of the kingdom: “then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father”—Matt. 13:43a and footnotes 1 and 2.
Morning Nourishment
Matt. 16:28 ...There are some of those standing here who shall by no means taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.17:2 And He was transfigured before them, and His face shone like the sun, and His garments became as white as the light.
13:43 Then the righteous will shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father...
For the Lord Jesus to be transfigured meant that His humanity was saturated and permeated with His divinity... This transfiguration, which was His glorification, was equal to His coming in His kingdom... Where His transfiguration is, there the coming of the kingdom is also. The coming of the kingdom is the Lord’s glorification, His transfiguration; and His glorification is the saturation of His humanity by His divinity. This is the meaning of transfiguration. (Life-study of Matthew, p. 586)
Today’s Reading
Matthew 17:3 says, “And behold, Moses and Elijah appeared to them, conversing with Him.” Moses and Elijah represent the Old Testament overcomers who will be in the manifestation of the kingdom. They both appeared in the coming of the kingdom, that is, they were present in the manifestation of the kingdom. In this miniature of the manifestation of the kingdom we have not only the Old Testament overcomers, but also New Testament overcomers, represented by Peter, James, and John. We see in Christ’s transfiguration a miniature of the coming manifestation of the kingdom. The miniature assures us that the full manifestation will come. (Life-study of Matthew, pp. 587-588, 592-593)One day the Lord Jesus told His disciples that some of them would not taste death until they saw the Son of Man coming in His kingdom (Matt. 16:28). According to Mark, He said that some of those standing there would see the kingdom of God having come in power (Mark 9:1). Shortly after speaking these words, He went to the mountaintop and was transfigured there (Matt. 17:1-2). The transfiguration of the Lord Jesus was the realization of what He is. When He was confined in His flesh, people thought of Him as only a little man from Nazareth. The kingdom was in Him, but they could not see it... It was concealed, covered, and confined within His flesh... After six days He went to the mountaintop, and there He was “switched on.”... Something within Him was shining. Although this reality was present within Him before His transfiguration, people could not observe it. However, at His transfiguration His disciples could observe something shining out from within Him.
The shining forth of the Lord Jesus on the mountaintop was the coming of the kingdom... He told Peter, James, and John that they would see Him coming in His kingdom—that they would see the kingdom of God having come in power. What did they see? They saw the shining of the Lord Jesus. When Peter, James, and John were all under His shining, they were in the kingdom. Also, the dead saints, represented by Moses, and the living saints, represented by Elijah, appeared and were under the shining of the spreading of the Lord Jesus.
Suppose there are five brothers living together in a brothers’ house. If these brothers are really under the shining of the Lord Jesus, the kingdom will be there in that brothers’ house. Whenever you visit them, you will sense the shining, the reigning, the ruling, and the good order. Although you would find no list of regulations, everything is kept in order by the shining.
The kingdom is not merely a dispensation, a sphere, or a realm. It is the realization of the reality of the Lord Jesus. Whenever He is spreading by shining over you, you are in the kingdom, and the kingdom has come in power. (CWWL, 1972, vol. 2, “The Kingdom,” pp. 17-19)
Further Reading: Life-study of Matthew, msg. 49; Life-study of Mark, msg. 25; CWWL, 1972, vol. 2, “The Kingdom,” ch. 2; Life-study of Luke, msg. 22