Whenever there is a spiritual, mountaintop experience in our lives, the tendency is toward a desire to remain and never return to the valley of daily living. The three disciples had experienced the transfiguration of the Son of Man, with Moses and Elijah in attendance. The incandescent cloud of glory and the voice that came from the midst of it still lingered in their memory. Peter had suggested the building of three tabernacles and emphasized that it was good to be “here,” at that moment and in those circumstances reveling in the glory of Christ. Life has its moments of spiritual exaltation, but God carefully balances them with the daily round of toil and sometimes trouble. Though Peter, James and John would have opted to stay on the mountain, they obediently followed Christ back to the valley, where immediately He was confronted with the multitude and a man whose young son was in desperate need. A demon, at times, rendered this boy twisted, writhing and foaming at the mouth. He was an only-begotten of his father. What a remarkable observation that is from the Spirit of God by the hand of Luke! God shows us the great contrast between an only-begotten son (demon possessed) of a man in the valley of need and the only-begotten Son of God coming down from the mountain of glory to meet the need.
Suppose Christ had not left the glory of the mountaintop, had never gone to the cross? Where would we be? Hallelujah, “…he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8). On the mount, only the disciples had seen His majesty (2 Pet. 1:16), but now it was evidenced to the multitude and to us in the midst of life’s difficulties – “and they were all amazed at the [majesty – same Greek word] of God” (vs. 43a).
Suppose Christ had not left the glory of the mountaintop, had never gone to the cross? Where would we be? Hallelujah, “…he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (Phil. 2:8). On the mount, only the disciples had seen His majesty (2 Pet. 1:16), but now it was evidenced to the multitude and to us in the midst of life’s difficulties – “and they were all amazed at the [majesty – same Greek word] of God” (vs. 43a).