The Adventures of Jesus Christ
Episodes from the Life of Jesus for Young Readers
by Vincent Cheung
[ Contents ]
Chapter 23. Jesus Revealed His Glory
A MEMORIAL OR A MIRACLE?
One day, Jesus took with him Peter, James, and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves.
As Jesus was praying, the disciples fell asleep. Then Jesus began to transform in his appearance. His face shone like the sun, and his clothes became blinding white like the light itself. This is called the transfiguration of Jesus.
Suddenly, Moses and Elijah appeared. They were two great prophets in the past. They began talking with Jesus about finishing his work and leaving the world. This would happen soon in Jerusalem.
When the disciples woke up, they saw the glorious appearance of Jesus and the two men talking with him. They were stunned. They did not know what to say or what to do.
As Moses and Elijah were starting to leave, Peter suggested, “Master, it is wonderful for us to be here. Let us make three tents as memorials – one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” He was overwhelmed and did not make sense.
While Peter was saying this, a bright cloud appeared and enveloped them. A voice came from the cloud, saying, “This is my Son. Listen to him!” The disciples were terrified and fell on their faces to the ground.
Jesus came over and touched them, and he said, “Get up, do not be afraid.” When they looked up, Moses and Elijah were gone, and they saw only Jesus.
The transfiguration was a shocking revelation of the glory of Jesus Christ. However, it was not meant to be a moment frozen in time so that we can use it only as historical reference for future teaching.
Peter had suggested building tents, as if to make this a permanent memorial. But Jesus was not interested in building memorials to past revelations. Instead, he wanted to put the revelation to work.
After what happened on the mountain, he led the disciples back down the mountain, right into the midst of people who needed him, including a young boy who was suffering from an evil spirit.
Jesus rebuked the disciples for their unbelief. Then he rebuked the people for their unbelief. And then he cast out the demon, showing that his power was not just for historical discussion, but for immediate action.
This is the difference between those who merely want to remember what God did in the past and those who have faith to see what God can do now.
Like Peter on the mountain, many people today want to build memorials. A memorial could be a statue to honor a person or event in the past. It can be beautiful, but the statue is a dead thing. The person is not here now. The event is not happening now.
This is how faithless people teach the stories of Jesus. They appear very excited about what Jesus did in the past, but then they behave as if he is dead.
For many people, religion is only a memorial, something like a statue that they worship. They would even make Jesus into something like a statue as if he is not doing anything like what he did in the Bible.
They want to create traditions and rituals that celebrate what God did in the past. They want to divide God’s work into neat categories – Moses, Elijah, and Jesus – and treat each as a separate era, frozen in time. But Jesus shows us that faith is not about building memorials. It is about living in the power of God today.
There are people who are spiritually asleep. They are happy to build memorials and follow traditions. But there are also those who are spiritually awake. These are the people who put God’s word into action, and who believe that God’s power is alive and active today.
The Bible is not just a book of memories. It is the living word of God, powerful and effective, expanding in action and effect. The transfiguration was not meant to be a monument to the past, but a call to faith and action in the present.
Evil has possessed the hearts of many people, and so they claim that the works of God have ceased. They reduce the Bible to a mere memorial of Jesus Christ. They want to make the Bible into a monument to the past, instead of unleashing its power in the present.
Listen! The Bible is not God’s tombstone! God is not dead. His word is living and powerful to produce miracles today.
What will we do with God’s revelation? Will we build a memorial, or will we live in faith and see miracles? Will we make traditions out of God’s word, or will we unleash its power to change lives?
The transfiguration of Jesus was a moment of revelation, but it was also a call to action. Jesus did not stay on the mountain. He went back down to continue his ministry of miracles. He showed that the power of God is not something to be admired from a distance, but something to be experienced and put to work. Jesus is not just the people’s hero in the past. He wants to be your hero today.