Let us look a little at this scripture as showing what our joy in the glory will consist of. We have the warrant of 2 Pet. 1:16 for saying that the scene represents to us the power and coming of our Lord Jesus Christ. And this is what we wait for. Our souls are not in a healthy state unless we are waiting for God’s Son from heaven. The Church is not regulated in its hopes by the Word and Spirit of God unless it is looking for Him as Saviour from heaven (Phil. 3:20,21). This passage in Luke, as disclosing to us especially what will be our portion when He comes, is important to us in this respect.
"And it came to pass about an eight days after these sayings, He took Peter and John and James, and went up into a mountain to pray. And as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment was white and glistering" (9:28,29). It was when Jesus was in the acknowledgment of dependence_"as He prayed"_that this change took place. This, then, is the first thing we have here_a change such as will pass upon the living saints when Jesus comes.
"And, behold, there talked with Him two men, which were Moses and Elias" (9:30). They were with Him. And this will be our joy_we shall be with Jesus. "So shall we ever be with the Lord" (1 Thess. 4:17). But in this passage there is not only the being with Christ, but there is also familiar conversation with Him. "There talked with Him two men." It is not that He talked with them, though that was no doubt true; but that might have been, and they be at a distance. But when we read that they talked with Him, we get the idea of the most free and familiar conversation. Peter and the others knew what it was to have such communication with Jesus in humiliation; and what joy must it have been to have this proof that such communication with Him would be enjoyed in glory as well!
Then we are told that Moses, Elias, and Christ "appeared in glory" (9:31). Moses and Elias shared in the same glory as that in which Christ was manifested. And so as to us:"When Christ, who is our life, shall appear, then shall we also appear with Him in glory" (Col. 3:4). "The glory which Thou gavest Me, I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one:I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me, and hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me" (John 17:22,23).
But there is another thing still. We are not only told that they were with Him, that they talked with Him, and appeared in glory with Him, but we are also privileged to know the subject of their conversation. They "spake of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem" (9:31). It was the cross which was the theme of their conversation in the glory_ the sufferings of Christ which He had to accomplish at Jerusalem. And surely this will be our joy throughout eternity, when in glory with Christ_to dwell upon this theme of His decease accomplished at Jerusalem.
"While He thus spake, there came a cloud, and overshadowed them; and they feared as they entered into the cloud. And there came a voice out of the cloud, saying, This is My beloved Son:hear Him" (9:34,35). Peter tells us that this voice came "from the excellent glory" (2 Pet. 1:17). Now Peter and the others had entered into the cloud; and thus we get this wonderful fact that in the glory, from which the voice comes, saints are privileged to stand, and there, in that glory, share the delight of the Father in His beloved Son. Not only are we called to the fellowship of God’s Son, Jesus Christ; we are called to have fellowship with the Father. We are admitted of God the Father to partake of His satisfaction in His beloved Son.
"And when the voice was past, Jesus was found alone" (9:36). The vision was all gone_the cloud, the voice, the glory, Moses and Elias_but Jesus was left, and they were left to go on their way with Jesus, knowing Him now in the light of those scenes of glory which they had beheld. And this is the use to us of those vivid apprehensions of spiritual things which we may sometimes realize. It is not that we can be always enjoying them and nothing else. But when for the season they have passed away, like this vision on the holy mount, they leave us alone with Jesus, to pursue the path of our pilgrimage with Him in spirit now, and with Him in the light and power of that deepened acquaintance with Him, and fellowship of the Father’s joy in Him, that we have got on the mount. Thus we wait for the moment of His return when all this, and more than our hearts can think of, shall be fulfilled to us for ever.
(From Help and Food, Vol. 26.)
FRAGMENT
"Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us" (Heb. 12:1,2). The way the apostle encourages us to disentangle ourselves from every hindrance, whether sin or difficulty, is remarkable_as though we had nothing to do but cast them off as useless weights. But in fact, when we look at Jesus, nothing is easier; when we are not looking at Him, nothing is more impossible.