Jesus briefly reveals his glory before Peter, James, and John, and the Father declares that he is the beloved Son who must be heard. Yet this revelation does not remove the path of suffering. Jesus’ glory must be understood together with his coming death, resurrection, and the earlier rejection of the forerunner who fulfilled Elijah’s role in a preparatory way.

Six days after Jesus spoke about self-denial, losing one’s life for his sake, and some seeing the kingdom come with power, he took Peter, James, and John up a high mountain by themselves. Mark’s time reference closely ties this event to what comes before it. This is not a detached story. It belongs with Jesus’ teaching about discipleship, suffering, and coming glory.

On the mountain, Jesus was transfigured before them. His appearance was changed so that his glory became visibly known to the three disciples. This was not a change in who he was, but a temporary unveiling of the glory that was already his within his earthly mission. Mark says his clothes became intensely radiant, whiter than anything human effort could produce. The disciples were given a real and visible glimpse of his glory.

Then Elijah and Moses appeared and were talking with Jesus. Their presence is significant and honorable, but the passage does not leave them as equal centers of attention alongside him. Peter responded by saying that it was good for them to be there and offered to make three shelters, one for Jesus, one for Moses, and one for Elijah. Mark immediately explains that Peter spoke this way because he was frightened and did not know what to say. His words, then, should not be treated as a sound interpretation of the event. He seems to want to honor the moment and preserve it, but he still does not understand it rightly.

Then God himself interpreted the scene. A cloud overshadowed them, recalling the cloud of divine presence in the Old Testament. From the cloud came the voice: “This is my one dear Son. Listen to him!” That is the center of the passage. The Father identifies Jesus not merely as another prophet or messenger, but as his beloved Son. And the command is plain: the disciples must hear him. In this context, that means more than listening with their ears. It means receiving and obeying what Jesus has been teaching, especially the truths they have struggled to accept about suffering, rejection, death, and resurrection.

After the voice spoke, Moses and Elijah were no longer visible. The disciples saw no one except Jesus alone. That ending matters. Moses and Elijah remain honored witnesses and servants of God, but the scene now gathers all attention to Jesus. He is the one they must believe and follow.

As they came down the mountain, Jesus ordered them not to tell anyone what they had seen until after the Son of Man had risen from the dead. This command was temporary, not permanent. The vision could be spoken of later, but only after the resurrection. That shows the transfiguration cannot be properly understood by itself. Its full meaning depends on the cross and resurrection. The glory revealed before Easter was real, but it could not yet be rightly understood apart from what Jesus was about to accomplish.

The disciples kept the matter to themselves, but they discussed what “rising from the dead” meant. The point is not that they knew nothing about resurrection in general. Their difficulty was that they still did not grasp how the Son of Man could suffer, be rejected, and then rise. Jesus’ teaching did not fit their expectations.

That leads to their question about Elijah. Since Elijah had appeared on the mountain, and since the teachers of the law said Elijah must come first, they asked Jesus about it. Jesus did not deny the truth in that expectation. He said Elijah does come first and restores all things. But then he directed their attention to something else Scripture also teaches: the Son of Man must suffer many things and be treated with contempt. They must not speak of restoration in a way that leaves out suffering. Scripture teaches both.

Then Jesus said that Elijah has already come, and people did to him whatever they wanted, just as it is written about him. The best understanding is that Jesus is referring to John the Baptist as the one who fulfilled Elijah’s role in a typological and preparatory way. John prepared the way, and he was rejected and killed. Jesus’ point is that God’s promised preparatory work truly did take place, but it came through a rejected forerunner, not through public triumph. That pattern helps explain Jesus’ own mission. The Son of Man’s suffering is not a failure of God’s plan. It stands within the same redemptive pattern seen in the treatment of the forerunner.

So the transfiguration is not a correction of Jesus’ earlier teaching about the cross, as though glory replaces suffering. It is a confirmation that the one who will suffer is indeed the glorious Son of God. The Father’s answer to confused disciples is not to remove the scandal of the cross, but to command them to listen to Jesus. The vision strengthens faith, but it does not permit them to remain on the mountain or reshape Jesus’ mission into one of glory without rejection.

Key Truths: - The transfiguration gives a real preview of Jesus’ glory, but only as part of the larger path that leads through suffering and resurrection. - The Father identifies Jesus as the beloved Son and commands the disciples to hear him above every other voice. - Peter’s proposal reflects fear and confusion, not a reliable interpretation of the event. - Moses and Elijah are honored witnesses, but the passage directs final attention to Jesus alone. - The vision was to be told only after the resurrection, because Jesus’ glory is rightly understood only together with the cross and the empty tomb. - Elijah’s promised role was fulfilled in a rejected forerunner, best understood as John the Baptist in a preparatory sense. - God’s saving plan includes both promised restoration and the rejection and suffering of his servants, culminating in the Son of Man himself.