Mark viii.32. And he spake that saying openly.
Then Peter took him, and began to rebuke him, saying, Be it far from thee, Lord: this shall not be unto thee.
mediately to reveal more explicitly the real and spiritual nature of his kingdom. At this moment every errroneous opinion that the Apostles, with all the Jewish nation, entertained respecting the nature of the Messiah's kingdom, must have received the fullest confirmation, and have given birth to the highest expec- tations. Peter was promised the keys of the kingdom of heaven, with authority to bind and to loose, to give laws, to pronounce what was clean and unclean. The temporal power and majesty of their Master, they supposed, were now to be developed, and with it their own honour and aggrandizement. They had seen his miracles; they had confessed their faith; they believed in Him as the long expected Messiah; they anticipated the establishment of his kingdom, and their own immediate eleva- tion to wealth and dignity. (Sect. 15.)
It was under these circumstances (compare Matt. xvi. 20. with v. 21.) that our Lord began to check the rising hopes of his followers, by disclosing to them the object of his incarna. tion-that He, the Son of Man, who had so abundantly demon- strated his divine power, must go to Jerusalem, there suffer many things, to be rejected by the chief priests and scribes, and, finally, be killed, and raised again the third day. Peter, who on all occasions was the principal speaker, and the most zea- lous of all the apostles, could neither reconcile this assertion with all that he had so lately seen and heard, nor could repress his surprize and indignation at even the suggestion of such conduct. Our Lord, who knew the thoughts of his heart, and who read there the lurking desire of ambition and power, re- proved him before the twelve for his erroneous notions, and for his shrinking from the anticipation of humiliation and mis- fortune. He then, in allusion to his own sufferings, addressed the apostles and the multitude, in the words of the latter part of the section. He assures his disciples of the absolute neces- sity of their taking up the cross, and of sacrificing even their lives for his sake and the Gospel's-He blends with these ex- hortations the assurance that He was the predicted Son of Man; and that though he called upon them now to suffer with him, He would come again in the glory of his Father, the glory of the Shechinah, with his holy angels, as Daniel had foretold; and in his spiritual kingdom he would reward them for their courage and devotion. It is not improbable that our Lord per- ceived some expression of surprise, or incredulity, upon the countenances of his disciples, for He immediately cautions them against unbelief. He repeats his declaration, that He will again come in his own glory, and in the glory of his Fa- ther, and that even the present generation should witness it; for there were some who were present, who should not die till they had seen the Son of Man come in his kingdom. By the term glory, in these passages doka, the Jews understood the bright flame, and cloud, the glory of the Shechinah, in which the Angel Jehovah was accustomed to appear to the ancient fathers (a).
There is a beautiful passage in Habakkuk in which the prophet describes the appearance of the Shechinah which led the Israel- ites out of Egypt, into the wilderness of Paran. God came from Teman and the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens. His brightness was as the light. In
But when he had turned about, and looked on his dis- Galilee. ciples, he rebuked Peter, saying, Get thee behind me, Satan ;
Mat.xvi. 23. thou art an offence unto me: for thou savourest not the things that be of God,
Mark viii.33. but the things that be of men.
And when he had called the people unto him, with his disciples also, he said unto them
Luke ix. 23. all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: Markviii.35. but whosoever will lose his life for my sake and the Gospel's, the same shall save it.
For what is a man advantaged, if he gain the whole world, and lose himself, or be cast away?
For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?
Or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? For the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels: and then he shall reward every man according to his works.
Whosoever therefore shall be ashamed of me, and of my words, in this adulterous and sinful generation, of him also shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he cometh
Luke ix. 26. in his own glory, and Markviii.38. in the glory of his Father, with the holy angels. Luke ix. 26, and of the holy angels.
And he said unto them, Verily I say unto you, that
these expressions the prophet seems to anticipate the des- cription of the Evangelists. Bishop Horseley remarks, that the description of Habakkuk in this passage is that of the Shechinab; and he supposes that the expression (Habak. iii. 11.)" at the sight of thine arrows they went, and at the shining of thy glittering spear," refers to the darting forth of the rays of light from the body of the flame of the Shechinah, which might resemble that of the streamers of the Aurora Borealis. passage" it shall be as" is in the Biblical Criticisms, but I do not recollect the volume and page. Whether the Shechinah in which the Angel Jehovah, the Lord Jesus, shall come to judgment, shall be of this description, or whether it shall be as the self-in- volving flame which was stationed at the gate of Paradise, or the bright cloud which on the day of the transfiguration over- shadowed the disciples and their Lord, we cannot now decide. But of this we may be assured, that we shall all behold this great and wonderful, and divine personage. Like his disciples, we must become his associates, or we shall be banished from that presence as unworthy its sublime contemplation.
(a) See on the identity of the glory in which our Lord appeared, with the glory of the Shechinah, Schoetgen Hora Hebraicæ, vol. i. p. 324. and particularly p. 542. on Rom. ix. 4. on the words rai ǹ dóza— Hac voce intelligitur Shechina sive majestas divina quæ alias a Græcis doža vocabatur. See also Dan Heinsius Exercitationes Sacræ, p. 220. and particularly 198 in Johan. where this is proved at great length. Witsius de Glorificatione in Monte, Melet. Leidens. sect. 30.
Mat.xvi. 28. there be some of them that stand here, which shall not Galilee. Mark ix. 1. taste of death ", till thay have seen
the Son of man coming in his kingdom. the kingdom of God come with power.
MATT. XVI. part of ver. 21. 23. and ver. 24, 25, 26. and part of
21 of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed
23 But he turned, and said unto Peter, Get thee behind me, Satan-but those that be of men.
24 Then said Jesus unto his disciples, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow
25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it.
26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul?
28 Verily I say unto you, There be some standing here which shall not taste of death, till they see
21 Bishop Porteus remarks, that this passage is commonly supposed to refer to the signal manifestation of Christ's power in the destruction of Jerusalem. But, he continues, we know of no one of Christ's disciples that survived this event but St. John ; and our Saviour speaks of more than one. In the 27th verse we read, the Son of Man shall come in the glory of his Father, to reward every man according to his works, which undoubtedly relates to Christ's final advent. When, therefore, it immediately follows in the next verse, there be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom; is it not most natural, is it not almost necessary, to understand these similar expressions as relating to the same great event. Now as Christ could not here mean to say, that some of his disciples should live till the day of judgment, He only meant to intimate that a few of them, before his death, should be favoured with a representation of the glorious appearance of Christ and his saints, as they should be seen in the air, on that awful day. And this promise was fulfilled a few days after, when he was transfigured before them on the mountain.
The whole transaction is described in the same terms, as St. John in the Revelation applies to the Son of Man in his state of glory in heaven, (Rev. i. 13-16.) St. Luke calls his appearance, after being transfigured, his glory. St. John uses the same expression, We beheld his glory, as of the only begotten of the Father; and St. Peter, the other witness, refers to it in a similar manner, 2 Pet. i. 16, 17, 18. Bishop Porteus's Lectures, p. 56.
Whitby reasons at some length against this interpretation of the account of the transfiguration. He would refer it rather to the day of judgment. On considering, however, the parallel passages, as they are placed together in this arrangement, I cannot think bis conclusions correct. The manner in which our Lord appeared at his transfiguration, undoubtedly appears to have been the same as that in which he will again descend from heaven. In this sense, his glorifying at the transfiguration may be considered the type of his future glory; and Christ may be said to have come at that time in the glory of his future kingdom.
Mat. xvii. 1. Luke ix. 28.
MARK viii. part of ver. 31, 32, 33, 34, and 35.
31 he began to teach them, that-must suffer many things -and after three days rise again.
32 -And Peter took him, and began to rebuke him.
33 for thou savourest not the things that be of God
34 -Whosoever will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.
35 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it; but whosoever shall lose his life for my sake
LUKE ix. ver. 22. part of ver. 23. 26. and ver. 27.
22 Saying, The Son of man must suffer many things, and be rejected of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be slain, and be raised the third day.
23 And he said to them-the same shall save it.
26 For whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of man be ashamed, when he shall come-and in his Father's
27 But I tell you of a truth, There be some standing here which shall not taste of death till they see the kingdom of God.
SECTION XVII.
The Transfiguration of Christ".
And after six days And it came to pass about eight days after these say- ings,
22 Having now prepared the minds of his disciples for his approaching sufferings and death, our Lord, for the greater confirmation of their faith in all the predicted trials that await- ed them, determines to manifest himself to them in his glorified state in that state, we may believe, in which He was before the world began, in which He is at present, in which also He will appear to an assembled world. He sets before them, as his custom was, by a significant action, a demonstration of the truth of what he had told them, that some of them should see their king in his glory. The transfiguration of Christ, like his resurrection and ascension, appears as it were to draw back for a moment the veil from the invisible world. The impenetrable barrier is passed; a light seems to dart from heaven to disperse the thick clouds that hang over the valley of the shadow of death, and we are admitted into the presence of the Judge of the world, and see with the eye of faith, the spirits of the just made perfect, before we are called upon to resign this cor- ruptible body to the shroud and to the tomb. Where the spirits of the departed exist, what their condition, or what their laws of consciousness, or means of happiness, man must die before he can ascertain. But it is not improbable that the invisible world is so mysteriously connected with this visible diurnal sphere, that the cessation of our consciousness as to present things, is but the commencement of our consciousness of all those unknown realities of the other world. Who can say, that we are not at this moment surrounded-that we are not at every period of our lives encompassed with a cloud of angelic spirits, the anxious witnesses of our thoughts and actions.
"Millions of spiritual creatures walk the earth Unseen, both when we wake, and when we sleep: and it is only the fragile veil of this body that prevents us
Mark ix. 2. Jesus taketh with him Peter, and James, and John, Mat. xvii. 1. his brother,
from distinguishing them; as soon as that is dissolved we shall become a spirit among spirits.
Bishop Porteus, in his beautiful and eloquent discourse on this portion of Scripture, observes, that the evident tendency of the whole passage is to prepare the minds of his disciples for the cruel treatment which both he and they were to un- dergo, and at the same time to raise their drooping spirits, by setting before their eyes his own exaltation, and their glorious rewards in another life. The very mentioning of Christ's death, by such men as Moses and Elias, without any marks of surprise or dissatisfaction, was of itself sufficient to cause a great change in the sentiments of the disciples respecting those suf- ferings; and to soften those prejudices against them, the removal of which seems to have been one of the more immediate objects of the transfiguration. He continues, by remarking, that the circumstance of Christ's assumption of this splendid and glorious appearance at the very time Moses and Elias were conversing with him on his sufferings, was a visible and striking proof to his disci- ples, that those sufferings were neither a discredit nor disgrace to him, but were perfectly consistent with the dignity of his cha- racter, and the highest state of glory to which he could be ex- alted. The transfiguration of Christ may be considered as a visible and figurative representation of Christ's coming in glory to judge the world, of a general resurrection, and of a day of retribution. For although the resurrection is not expressly mentioned in this transaction, it is evidently and distinctly im- plied; because Jesus is there represented in his glorified state, consequently the resurrection must be supposed to have taken place. In the preceding section we read that when Christ should come again in glory, he would reward every man ac- cording to his works, (v. 27.) and in confirmation of the truths of a resurrection, and a day of retribution, Moses and Elias, two just and righteous men, who had for many centuries before departed out of this world, were brought back to it again in the possession of a state of glory. Elias having been carried up into heaven without seeing death, most aptly represents those children of light who should be found alive at the last day; and Moses shadows forth the glorious perfection of those blessed spirits who have died in the Lord, and who in the day of judgment, their body and soul being united and glorified, will receive the reward of their works. The glory of Christ therefore on the mountain was a symbol of his exaltation to be the judge of the earth, and the glory of Moses and Elias was an earnest of a resurrection, and of the rewards and happiness prepared for the righteous in heaven. The other great purpose of the action on the mount, was, to give a figurative signification of the abro- gation of the Mosaical law, and the commencement of the Christian dispensation, upon which it was to be established. Moses and Elias, as the representatives of the law and the pro- phets, who had successively testified of the promised Messiah, it appears to me, were now in their glorified state, permitted to behold on earth the magnificent completion of all their pre- dictions; and by their farewell testimony to the truth of his di- vinity, afford to man the most powerful evidence that human reason could either receive or require. By their testimony they acknowledged the accomplishment of all their prophecies, and that the commencement of the Messiah's kingdom was established on the law and the prophets; and when the disciples, in an
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