Atlanta tri-weekly journal. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1920-19??, 1924-11-18

Golden Text: This is my Son, my
chosen: near ye Him" Luxe 9:55.
The conversation which followed
Pessrs confession was calculated to
have a very SOLDERING effect upon the
disciples. 1t was not pleasant to
think that their Master, to whom
they were devoted, would have to
suffer many things as He had told
them, and to be killed at Jerusalem.
No wonder, Peter, speaking only as
a man, should have urged Jesus to
spaer Himself and to stay away from
JeruSaIar1 If that was what going
there was going 70 mean.
Nor was the balance of His words
any less SOLDERING, when He sat before
them such rigid restrictions as to dis
cipleship as denying self utterly
leaving all, putting self to death, etc.
We have no record of the six in
tervening dayS-they must have been
days of depression, though, days dur
ing which there was a very solemn
hush over the whole group. The eff
feet was great, though, for it drove
Jesus to prayer. After six days
Luke says eight, including in his ac
count the day of the confession and
the day Of the TRANSPORTATION as we'll
Jesus took Peter and James and
John with Him and went up into
the mountain to pray. These three
were the nearest to Him of the
twelve, the inner circle who seemed
to get closest to His fellowship, not
BECAUSE they were different or better,
but because of His choice.
And as He prayed, they went to
sleep. These men Who had been tax
en- by Him to be company for Him in
His prayers, to enter with Him in His
praying, to give to Him the human
companionship Of which He felt the
need in. this hoLr of crisiS-they
failed him; they went to sleep!
But AS He prayed" the fashion of
His countenance because different,
so says Luke. Matthew and Mark
use another word-Was 'metamor-
phosed," they say. They use the word
which describes to us what happens
when the grub worm becomes the
beautiful butterfly. Even His raj
ment became white and gllsten1nT,
whittier than any laundry soap can
make it, whittier than the snow as 1t
reflects the rays of the sun. Luke
again uses q, word which describes
the lightning-how binding it is In
it's brilliancy as it flashes out OF the
darkness! 1t must have been TINS
which walked up these sleeping dls-
ciples. They saw His glorious APP
pearance, and also saw two men
standing with Him, who reflected His
glory. These two men were talking
with Him, and the subject of their
conversation, which they heard, was
His EXODUS" which He was about to
accomplish in Jerusalm The men
were easily recognized as men; there
was nothing which suggested angel
appearances or heavenly visitors.
They were just men, but men who
reflected His glory. And Peter rec
ognized them, although he had never
seen either of them before. One had
been dead, it turns out, about l,5Oo
years; and the other had disappeared
in a whirlwind amid the accompanl-
raent of chariotS and horses OF live
900 years before, and diligent search
by his friends had resulted IN fruit
less effort to find his body He knew
Moses and he knew Elijah, and was
so carried away with the glory Oh 1t
that-outsp0ken and 1mpulSIVe as ne
always was-he proposed to bulld
three tabrnacies, like DaVlds taber-
nacle. one for Jesus, one for Moses,
and one for Elijah. His idea was that
of worship. Moses held the highest
place in the mind of every Jew; and
since Elijah had disappeared place
for him had been set at every Jews
table, expecting that he would return
at any time; and seeing this glorious
appearance of Jesus, Peter proposed
that He, too, should have a place III
their worship now.
But as he said this a cloud en-
veloped them, a bright cloud, says
Matthew. And as they entered the
cloud they were afraid; the bril-
fancy of it frightened them. They
had been accustomed to dark clouds;
they had never seen anything like
the brightness of this one, for it had
disappeared from the holy of holes
just before the destructicA of Jeru-
salem, just 500 years before, and had
not been seen since. It was the
Shekinah, the manifestation of the
Presence of God Himself. No Won
der they were afraid as they entered
this cloud. The people at Sinai had
shrunk from it. The high priest
alone could see it, and that only once
year, and even then only when ne
bore the blood of the sacrifice, the
blood of atonement And they We're
just common people, and without
the blood of the atonement.
Nor was their fear lessened when
they heard the voice of God speak
ing, This is my Son, my chosen;
hear ye Him." They fell on their
faces, and when the cloud lifted
Jesus touched them and said Arise,
be not afraid. And they arose, but
saw no man save Jesus.
Peters plan was not Gods plan.
He wanted to give Jesus an equal
place in their worship with Moses
and Elijah. Gods plan is that He
alone shall be heard and worshiped
Peters plan was to stay there and
enjoy such fellowship and worship
Gods plan was for them TO go down
into the valley where the epileptic
boy was, and to Jerusalem, where
the GROSS was to be placed. Peters
plan was to have another great hero
Moses the lawgiver, Elijah the
prophet Of judgment on the broken
law, and Jesus the teacher and