12-16-2009, 03:43 PM
Hi Folks
I was reading the account of the transfiguration a while back, and suddenly I noticed something that I didn't realize before - and then just last night, something else struck me which I thought was worth sharing with you good folks.
Luke's account of the transfiguration gives a bit more detail than Mathew's and it's this detail that struck me, because it seems I had been misinterpreting it before. I have highlighted the extra detail:
"In actual fact, about eight days after these words, he took Peter and John and James along and climbed up into the mountain to pray. And as he was praying the appearance of his face became different and his apparel became glitteringly white. Also, look! two men were conversing with him, who were Moses and Elijah. These appeared with glory and began talking about his departure that he was destined to fulfill at Jerusalem." (Luke 9:28-31)
Now, maybe I'm thick... or maybe it was WT think... but I always assumed the departure he was destined to fulfill at Jerusalem was simply him going to Jerusalem to be put to death.
But then it hit me... hang on... it sounds more likely that Moses and Elijah are conversing with him about his departure from Jerusalem TO HEAVEN... the one talked about in Acts 1!
(OK, maybe everyone already knows that... but for some reason, I've never noticed that.)
Anyway, last night I was thinking of this account, with the two men Moses and Elijah... and it suddenly occurred to me...
... TWO MEN? Departure?
Now listen to what happens just after Jesus departs from his disciples:
"And after he had said these things, while they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud caught him up from their vision. And as they were gazing into the sky while he was on his way, also, look! two men in white garments stood alongside them, and they said: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who was received up from you into the sky will come thus in the same manner as you have beheld him going into the sky." (Acts 1:9-11)
Now, the account gives us no clue as to who these "two men" are. I had assumed they were angels... but we're not actually told that. All we know about them is that there were two of them, and they wore white garments.
Could it be, I wondered, that these two men were actually Moses and Elijah... and this was actually the fulfillment of the transfiguration vision that Peter, James and John had seen?
Of course, that had some intriguing implications...
Why did Luke not identify them as Moses and Elijah in Acts? (But then... if many did not recognize the resurrected Jesus at first by sight, is it possible they wouldn't have recognized the resurrected Moses and Elijah?)
Why would Moses and Elijah have been resurrected, but not others?
There is also a strange passage in Mathew, that seems to imply some kind of a resurrection took place, but some view it as merely dead bodies being thrown out... but it could also read like a resurrection of holy ones:
"And, look! the curtain of the sanctuary was rent in two, from top to bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rock-masses were split. And the memorial tombs were opened and many bodies of the holy ones that had fallen asleep were raised up, (and persons, coming out from among the memorial tombs after his being raised up, entered into the holy city,) and they became visible to many people. (Mathew 27:51-53)
This has got to be one of the weirdest passages of scripture, because it SOUNDS more like a kind of resurrection than a mere throwing out of dead bodies!
But perhaps a very limited resurrection did take place... just as Jesus himself was about to be resurrected... possibly including no less figures than Moses and Elijah!
I admit I find this possibility a bit startling... but it does seem to make sense of the transfiguration vision, and perhaps explain the mysterious passage in Mathew, and the "two men" in Luke.
There are other scriptures which may be relevant to this, but I find the whole thing a bit strange... but could it be that the depature of Acts 1 is the departure seen in the transfiguration... and could that explain the identity of the two men?
Talk to me, people... talk to me! :icecream:
I was reading the account of the transfiguration a while back, and suddenly I noticed something that I didn't realize before - and then just last night, something else struck me which I thought was worth sharing with you good folks.
Luke's account of the transfiguration gives a bit more detail than Mathew's and it's this detail that struck me, because it seems I had been misinterpreting it before. I have highlighted the extra detail:
"In actual fact, about eight days after these words, he took Peter and John and James along and climbed up into the mountain to pray. And as he was praying the appearance of his face became different and his apparel became glitteringly white. Also, look! two men were conversing with him, who were Moses and Elijah. These appeared with glory and began talking about his departure that he was destined to fulfill at Jerusalem." (Luke 9:28-31)
Now, maybe I'm thick... or maybe it was WT think... but I always assumed the departure he was destined to fulfill at Jerusalem was simply him going to Jerusalem to be put to death.
But then it hit me... hang on... it sounds more likely that Moses and Elijah are conversing with him about his departure from Jerusalem TO HEAVEN... the one talked about in Acts 1!
(OK, maybe everyone already knows that... but for some reason, I've never noticed that.)
Anyway, last night I was thinking of this account, with the two men Moses and Elijah... and it suddenly occurred to me...
... TWO MEN? Departure?
Now listen to what happens just after Jesus departs from his disciples:
"And after he had said these things, while they were looking on, he was lifted up and a cloud caught him up from their vision. And as they were gazing into the sky while he was on his way, also, look! two men in white garments stood alongside them, and they said: “Men of Galilee, why do you stand looking into the sky? This Jesus who was received up from you into the sky will come thus in the same manner as you have beheld him going into the sky." (Acts 1:9-11)
Now, the account gives us no clue as to who these "two men" are. I had assumed they were angels... but we're not actually told that. All we know about them is that there were two of them, and they wore white garments.
Could it be, I wondered, that these two men were actually Moses and Elijah... and this was actually the fulfillment of the transfiguration vision that Peter, James and John had seen?
Of course, that had some intriguing implications...
Why did Luke not identify them as Moses and Elijah in Acts? (But then... if many did not recognize the resurrected Jesus at first by sight, is it possible they wouldn't have recognized the resurrected Moses and Elijah?)
Why would Moses and Elijah have been resurrected, but not others?
There is also a strange passage in Mathew, that seems to imply some kind of a resurrection took place, but some view it as merely dead bodies being thrown out... but it could also read like a resurrection of holy ones:
"And, look! the curtain of the sanctuary was rent in two, from top to bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rock-masses were split. And the memorial tombs were opened and many bodies of the holy ones that had fallen asleep were raised up, (and persons, coming out from among the memorial tombs after his being raised up, entered into the holy city,) and they became visible to many people. (Mathew 27:51-53)
This has got to be one of the weirdest passages of scripture, because it SOUNDS more like a kind of resurrection than a mere throwing out of dead bodies!
But perhaps a very limited resurrection did take place... just as Jesus himself was about to be resurrected... possibly including no less figures than Moses and Elijah!
I admit I find this possibility a bit startling... but it does seem to make sense of the transfiguration vision, and perhaps explain the mysterious passage in Mathew, and the "two men" in Luke.
There are other scriptures which may be relevant to this, but I find the whole thing a bit strange... but could it be that the depature of Acts 1 is the departure seen in the transfiguration... and could that explain the identity of the two men?
Talk to me, people... talk to me! :icecream: