Evening star., 1924-11-22

One week following Peters confess
sion of Jesus as the Christ the events
recorded In this lesson took place.
The Master evidently had remained
bear Cacsarea Phillip explaining to
the apostles the necessity and right
eousHess of His suffering. as He had
predicted to them. upon the cross.
They believed in Him, but they could
not bring themselves to realize that
the shame and sacrifice entailed in
such a death We're compatible with
His Messia hship. Christ had used
the week in an effort to strengthen
Che faith of the twelve so that they
would be prepared to stand the
strain that His death would bring to
them.
Jesus and His three companions,
the sons of thunder and the man of
rock, must have had heavy hearts
when the Lord proposed that they
accompany Him when He went up the
mountain to pray. The record is
silent as to the high mountain. Some
believe that it was Tabor. Others
consider that it was Hermon, which
is the highest mountain of the Anti
lebanon range. In all probability it
was Hermon, the snow capped noun
tain that from ancient times has
been considered to be holy place.
Our Lord found in the serenity and
solitude of the mountain an environ
ment that helped Him in His COM
munion with the Father. There is
no indication of any jealousy due to the
intimacy of three members of the
inner circle who Joined Him upon
His mountain climbing expedition
when Christ turned away from the
others to pray. There exists in every
circle natural distinctions. There
are always some whose personality
makes them more capable to sympa-
thize and appreciate their leader.
They understand Him the best and
are able to interpret Him better than
others. 1t was due to their spiritual
ity and sympathetic personality that
the three went with Jesus upon that
/ eventful trip and beheld the glory
scene.
The Glory Scene.
There is nothing in the records of
the gospels that could be considered
! as teaching that the TRANSPORTATION
was anticipated by the Lord when
He started with His three compan-
ions up the mountain side to spend
the night in prayer. The three whose
duty ii was to watch over the Mas
/ ter were having a hard time to keep
/ awake when one of the seven great
! events in the life of Christ took
I place. 1t was an incident connected
. with the LorTs prayer life. for as
! tie was pray ing the fashion of His
cOuutenance was altered, and His
raiment became white and dazzling
/ Matthew records that His face did
shine as the sun, and His garments
became white as the light" The
evangelists were unable to find words
TO describe this unique experience
Of Jesus VIII III He was transfigured
: before them.
Luke points out that this epochal
event took place when Christ was
praying, which suggests that trans
formation of His face and dress was
due TO the glory of His personality,
which was within. Bruce has advised
that we avoid all speculation and sug-
pestions and devote our thought to
the humble task Of explaining brief
" its significance for Jesus Himself,
and its lessons for His disciples" The
lesson is rich in its suggestive ma
/. terial, that must be passed by. while
We consider its message of comfort,
confirmation and conviction that is
found in the TRANSPORTATION and the
celestial conversations heard upon
the mountain in connection with
/ Christs transformation.
Celestial Conversation.
Christ recognized the need of pray
er, which ought to encourage US to
give more time TO communion with
God in secret prayer. If We fail to
obtain the spiritual help that we
need. the cause will probably be due
to our neglect of the greatest priv
ilege ever given to men. Jesus in
every crisis turned, as we should do,
to prayer. 1t was during His pray
ing that the celestial visitors drew
near to confer with the Lord con-
corning His coming death. In answer
to His petition for help, the two lead
ing figures of Old Testament history
came to comfort Him. Moses, who
disappeared from human sight upon
Pisgah's heights, represented the law.
Elijah, who went up in a whirlwind
To heaven, represented the prophets.
They spoke with Jesus about His
exodus (not the gloom Of death, but
the glory of His resurrection) lifting
up to Him the assurance of His COM
ing glory. They flooded the cross
with the glory of eternity. demon
strating the reality of the life beyond
the grave.
They comforted the Master by their
revelation of the future. The joy set
before Jesus enabled him to endure
the cross and despise the shame. The
presence OF these two distinguished
celestial persons brought comfort to
the Lord and opened for men many
difficult and delicate questions con-
cerning the mysterious state of the
dead and the possible relations of the
departed spirits with the affairs of
the living. While the vision of the
invisible life was only temporal one
and in connection with the most re-
markable event in history, both of
the visitors were recognized and the
drift of their conversation caught by
the three witnesses. The fact that
these two visitors appeared in celes-
tial bodies, having the same appear
ance as that of our Lord, raises the
question concerning the celestial
bodies, which evidently all believers