Sneak Peek

The season of Epiphany is a season of revealing. It is the time in the Church’s life when we ask, Who is this Jesus? From the Magi who revealed Him to the Gentiles, to His baptism where the Father declared, “This is My beloved Son,” to the Sermon on the Mount where Jesus revealed who His disciples are—each week has pulled the curtain back a little further. But when we come to Matthew 17:1–9, we arrive at the climactic moment of the season. This is the big reveal. 

To understand why this moment is so astonishing, we have to remember the story that precedes it. Adam once walked with God in the Garden. The glory—the active, recognizable presence of God—was with him. But when Adam sinned, humanity was driven from that glory. Since then, God has visited His people, but always with restraint. He came in a burning bush, in a pillar of cloud and fire, in thunder and lightning on Sinai. Moses saw the effects of God’s glory and even spoke with Him “face to face,” yet he still cried out, “Show me Your glory.” But God told him plainly: “No man can see My face and live.”

Now we climb a different mountain. Six days after predicting His suffering and death, Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up a high mountain. And there, Matthew tells us, “He was transfigured before them.” His face shone like the sun. His clothes became white as light. The glory that had been veiled in flesh blazed forth. What Moses longed to see, what Israel was shielded from, what Adam forfeited—here it stands before three trembling disciples.

This moment is also a preparation. The disciples are about to see their Master betrayed, beaten, and crucified. Before they see Him disfigured on a cross, they are allowed to see Him transfigured in glory.

Yet Jesus’ glory is a sneak peek. The disciples were given a taste of His boundless glory, as much as they were able to comprehend.  They saw the fullness of His glory in degree, but not yet the fullness in kind. It is like seeing a king clothed in royal robes but not yet seated on his throne. The glory is real, but there is more glory to come.

The Transfiguration is not merely about what happened to Jesus. It is about what will happen to us in Him. Scripture tells us we are being transformed “from glory to glory” (2 Cor. 3:18). We are heirs with Christ—if we suffer with Him, we will also be glorified with Him (Rom 8:17). The glory revealed on that mountain is the glory promised to those who belong to Him.

Even more astonishing, the glory of Christ after the resurrection still bears the marks of His suffering. His pierced hands and wounded side remain—not as shame, but as victory. The scars are not erased; they are glorified. That means our faithfulness, our endurance, our crosses carried in obedience are marks of our glory.

So what is the Transfiguration? It is a sneak peek. It is the future breaking into the present. It is God pulling back the curtain and saying, “This is where the road leads.” The Christian life may be marked by suffering, by self-denial, by seasons like Lent where we fast and put to death the old man. But that path is not aimless. It leads somewhere. It leads to glory.

The Transfiguration is a sneak peek. It shows us who Jesus fully is. And in showing us Him, it shows us our future.

Peace be with you,

Pastor Bruce