(Luke 9:28-36)

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
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 glistening" (Luke 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, who were Moses and Elias" (verse 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" (verse 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 that 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 "spoke of His decease that He should accomplish
at Jerusalem" (verse 31). It was the cross that was the theme of their
conversation in the glory—the sufferings of Christ that 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 spoke, 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" (verses 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" (verse 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
that they had beheld. And this is the use to us of those vivid apprehensions of
spiritual things that 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.)