The transfiguration of the Lord

​- Sermon 14 -
Second Sunday In Lent. The Transfiguration of Jesus
t. Matthew XVII, 1-13: "And after six days Jesus taketh Peter, James, and John his brother, and bringeth them up into an high mountain apart, and was transfigured before them: and his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light, and, behold, there appeared unto them Moses and Elias talking with him. Then answered Peter, and said unto Jesus, Lord, it is good for us to be here: if thou wilt, let us make here three tabernacles; one for thee, and one for Moses, and one for Elias. While he yet spake, behold, a bright cloud overshadowed them: and behold a voice out of the cloud, which said, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye him. And when the disciples heard it, they fell on their face, and were sore afraid. And Jesus came and touched them, and said, Arise, and be not afraid. And when they had lifted up their eyes, they saw no man, save Jesus only. And as they came down from the mountain, Jesus charged them, saying, Tell the vision to no man, until the Son of man be risen again from the dead.
And his disciples asked him, saying, Why then say the scribes that Elias must first come? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Elias truly shall first come, and restore all things. But I say unto you. That Elias is come already, and they knew him not, but have done unto him whatsoever they listed. Likewise shall also the Son of man suffer of them. Then the disciples understood that he spake unto them of John the Baptist."
(January 25, 1872)
 
Here again you have an event from My earthly career of a deep and heavenly significance. This event was once important for the disciples who accompanied Me, but it is also significant for you and all mankind and in its spiritual correspondence of great importance for the future into which you are now moving. We will now look at this event, explain its significance for My disciples at that time and then study its great spiritual correspondence to find out how, when and where it is repeating itself today and how it will have the same regenerating effect now as it had once on the three disciples with Me and their further life and actions.
The Gospel states that I took My disciples Peter, James and John up a mountain where they saw Me transfigured, that is, they saw Me with their spiritual eyes as the One who I really am, was  and shall be. They saw Me as a high spirit whose garment - truth - was in its correspondence white and whose face shone like the sun, that is, it radiated love. At My side they saw two mighty supporters of My entire future system of instruction who contributed most to facilitate My work as My forerunners - Moses and Elias, with whom I was speaking. They also heard a voice from a cloud speaking the same words that had once sounded at My baptism at the river Jordan: "This is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased; listen to him!"
This vision which I allowed My three disciples to see was meant to give them a fore taste of their own destination. Peter, whom I called the 'rock' upon which I wanted to build My church, had a similar mission to that of Moses who once prepared the Jewish people for My coming. He gave them laws and rules of conduct which for the Jews were easier to accept than for any other race, to make them My chosen people in the midst of which I had decided to come to the earth. As Elias, in his incarnation as John the Baptist, did on a small scale what Moses had to do on a large scale, thus John, My favourite, - thanks to his particular work and the fact that he lived longer than any of the other disciples - was destined through his Revelation during the last years of his life to show to the world in advance its spiritual progress until its purification and to leave behind a testimony to the effect that the laws I have established in My creation - be they moral or physical laws - must not be spurned.

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